


Paris is Always a Good Idea

by AlaMac0801



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben ‘The World’s Only Living Heart Donor’ Solo, Cold Feet, Dubious Consent, F/M, Fake Love, Infidelity, No Pregnancy, Pain Killers, Pain Medication, Sabrina 1995 Retelling, Slow Burn, There is some Rey being in love with Poe, Unrequited Love, but THIS IS A REYLO STORY, seriously though it’s A SLOW BURN
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:02:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23724271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlaMac0801/pseuds/AlaMac0801
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a very large mansion, almost a castle, where there lived a family by the name of Ogana-Solo.And over the garage there lived a chauffeur, imported from England years ago, with a daughter named Rey.Or Rey has spent her whole life in love with the youngest Solo son, Poe. When she comes back after two years spent in Paris, Poe finally notices her too. Unfortunately, his newfound affection threatens to throw a major wrench into his older brother and CEO of Organa Corporation, Benjamin Solo’s, most lucrative business deal yet.Can notorious workaholic Ben turn Rey’s eyes away from Poe and make her fall in love with him instead?A Sabrina AU.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 187
Kudos: 352





	1. THE NIGHT BEFORE

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LyricalRiot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyricalRiot/gifts).



> Hello Everyone! 
> 
> I’d just like to take the time to thank @little_womp_rat on twitter (LyricalRiot on AO3) for this amazing Prompt recommendation and for being kind enough to encourage me to write it, even though this will be my first fic. Ever. And to my good friend that I affectionately call Mrs. Darcy for being the first person to read it. 
> 
> This is absolutely a Sabrina AU based on the movie of the same name that was released in 1995. It’s one of my favorite movies and there will definitely many direct quotes and scenes, especially any narration from the movie. My plan is to follow as closely to the movie as possible while still staying true to these characters we all love so much. Obviously I don’t own any of the characters from Star Wars or Sabrina. I do, however, own any grammatical errors. They’re all mine. 
> 
> Please do yourself a favor and watch the movie at some point if you haven’t. Harrison Ford as Linus Larrabee is a gift. 
> 
> More tags will be added as I go as well as will any content warnings. 
> 
> Warnings: Unrequited love is in the tags, but it’s real in this story and in this chapter. It may not need to be said, but deep feelings are real in people and I would never want anyone to read a story I wrote (Borrowed? Retold? Again, this is not my story!) in pain. 
> 
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read.
> 
> THIS BEAUTIFUL MOODBOARD in the first chapter was made by Debbie (@folklxre on twitter)

Once upon a time, on the north shore of Long Island, not far from New York, there was a very very large mansion, almost a castle, where there lived a family by the name of Ogana-Solo. There were servants inside the mansion, and servants outside the mansion; boatmen to tend the boats, and six crews of gardeners: two for the solarium, the rest for the grounds, and a tree surgeon on retainer. There were specialists for the indoor tennis courts, and the outdoor tennis courts, the outdoor swimming pool, and the indoor swimming pool. And over the garage there lived a chauffeur by the name of Chewbacca Fairchild, Chewie to Mr. Solo, and just Fairchild to everyone else, imported from England years ago, together with a Rolls Royce; and a daughter, named Rey. 

  
***

  
Rey watched the people from her perch in the tree, down there in beautiful dresses and fancy suits. It was dark now, but the entire grounds were illuminated by hundreds of fairy lights. It looked like a dream, and felt like one too. The orchestra was playing something slow and beautiful, seductive even and all of the guests were smiling, curtesy of the ever-flowing champagne and scotch. The Organa-Solos, among other things, were noted for the parties they gave. “Few people any more give parties like the Organa-Solos” Rey had once heard a guest standing under her tree say.

It never rains on the night of an Organa-Solo party. The Organa-Solos wouldn’t have stood for it. 

Rey looked about once more. She found him easily in the crowd. With his dark curly hair and vibrant smile, Rey always watched. And she always found him.

Poe Dameron Solo. The younger of the two Solo brothers. He was handsome and charming. He was in and out of many schools over the years and even more relationships. He’d been in a Calvin Klein ad. He swayed with his redheaded dance partner, whispering what she could only imagine were charming sweet nothings into her ear. He’s telling her that she’s beautiful and clever. That she was funny with a wonderful sense of irony. That she’s the only woman he could imagine spending tonight with. Maybe even tomorrow night too. They made a beautiful pair dancing together. For one small moment Rey let herself pretend it was her with him, with his hands on her hips and his lips whispering in her ear.

Rey’s stomach clenched. That would never be her, dancing with him. Poe smiling down on her like she was the only woman in the room. How could it?

She sighed and looked around to see if she recognized anyone else in the garden, not that she expected to. There was Mr. Solo and Mrs. Organa-Solo swaying together to the music. They were a lovely couple and had always been exceptionally nice to Rey, despite her status as Fairchild’s daughter. 

Leia Organa-Solo inherited the Organa Corporation when her father died on the 13th hole at Pebble Beach.

She’d been on the cover of Fortune.

She continued to scan the party and then there was Benjamin. The eldest brother. Benjamin Organa Solo graduated from Harvard at 19 and became CEO of The Organa Corporation at 21. He took over his mother’s company and took a respectable 100 million dollar family business into some serious money.

Benjamin had been on the cover of Time. 

He was standing by himself looking out at the dancers with a severe look upon his face. Everything about Ben was severe. He was all work and no play. He did look rather dashing in his black suit and familiar bow tie, but that was where all his charms ended. Where Poe was radiant like sunshine, Ben’s scowl was black as night. It only slightly softened when he was approached by another gentleman in a tuxedo. They spoke for a moment and shook hands. _Probably closing another deal_ Rey thought to herself. Ben never missed a chance for more business, for more money…

“Rey! Rey, you haven’t finished your packing. You need to come down.” She heard her father call up to her from the bottom of her tree.  
  
Right at that moment she saw Poe laughing down at the woman in his arms. _Christ, she’d made him laugh._

“Do you think I’m witty?” Rey asked aloud finally looking down at her father.

He gave her a look back. “Maybe Paris isn’t far enough away” he mumbled under his breath.   
  
Rey ignored his comment. “But really, I could be witty right?” 

Her father still didn’t bother to answer her question. “The full time observation of Poe Solo is not a recognized profession. Please get out of that tree and come finish your packing.”

Rey just continued to look down at her father, heart racing once again at the thought of being so far away from him. And leaving Poe. 

“Do you know how lucky we are that Mrs. Organa-Solo has friends that have a job for you so that you can have this European experience? I’ve managed to secure an apartment for you but now with this job waiting, you’ll really have a go at it.” He paused for a moment, uncharacteristically emotional. “It’s what your mother always wanted for you. She would be so happy for you if she were here.”

Even as part of her knew she was being ridiculous, the words burst from Rey’s mouth before she could stop them. “But what if he forgets all about me?” 

”Forget you?” Her father said looking surprised. “How can he forget someone he doesn’t even know exists?”

Rey felt his words pierce her heart.

“Darling, you know I didn’t mean that.” Her father sighed. “I just know there is so much more to you than this obsession. I hope you know that too. Please, come down. Everyone will want to say goodbye.” He gave her a small smile with his apology. 

”Thanks, Dad. I will” she said as she watched him make his way back to the garage. 

Rey looked back over to the direction Poe had been dancing but he was gone. Panicked she looked around, trying to find him in the crowd. She saw him moving towards her tree, bottle of champagne in his hands. Classic Poe. She knew he had two champagne flutes in his back pockets. He appeared to everyone else to be sneaking off from the party alone, but she knew better. The redhead was waiting for him the solarium. They always wait for him in the solarium. 

As he walked past her tree it suddenly occurred to her that this would be her last chance to speak with him before she left. She would be gone in the morning and didn’t know when she would see him again. Talk to him again. She wanted to tell him she would think of him. She wanted to tell him that she would _**miss**_ him.

Rey raced down the tree and in her rush to see him landed in an inelegant heap on the ground. Poe turned startled by the noise and looked at her. She quickly stood up and gazed at him, tongue tied now that she was standing in front of him.

“Oh, Rey!” Poe said with a quick smile. “It’s just you.” 

Rey’s face lit up, feeling her cheeks heat with blush. She brought her hand up to push the hair away from her face that had fallen loose from her usual three buns. “Hello, Poe” she managed to whisper. 

“I thought I heard somebody." but even as he said it, he was already turning away from her. He gave her a slight wave by lifting his hand still holding the champagne bottle up a little and then continued on his path towards his chosen partner for the evening. She felt the smile leave her face.

She watched him go and even though she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t help but slowly follow down the same path he had taken. When she reached the solarium she peaked in through the windows to see Poe and the redheaded woman dancing together again, this time with much less space between their bodies. 

“No.” Rey said softly, reminding herself that she, the chauffer’s daughter, would never mean anything more to him. “It’s nobody.”

***

Benjamin Solo had reached the end of his patience with tonight’s affair. He’d secured the deal he wanted and now wished for nothing more than to get back to his office and start putting everything in to motion. 

“Well, that’ll be all from me. Goodnight, gentleman” Ben said to the few party goers who had managed to surround him at some point during the evening. 

“So soon, Young Solo?” one of the older men, a friend of his father’s he remembered, said to him. “It’s only 9:30!”

Ben put on his most charming act, almost even smiled.   
  
”I hate to leave all fun to you, but I really need to check on the Tokyo Market before it closes” he said. The men gave him some good natured ribbing, but everyone knew Benjamin Solo never did anything but work, so they let him walk away without saying anything more. 

As he made to leave the garden he noticed a crumbled up suit jacket on the edge of his mother’s favorite water fountain. He rolled his eyes before he could stop himself. It was Poe’s jacket, of course. His ridiculous brother had never taken care of a single thing in his life. For a brief moment Ben considered leaving it there. But as usual, Ben cleaned up after his younger brother and grabbed the coat. 

Once again on his way back to the house he looked over and saw his mother making her way over to him through the crowd. 

“Benjamin, Amilyn just told me that you fired her son!” His mother said sounding mildly horrified.

He just looked at her. “He's an idiot.” 

“But Ben, Amilyn was a bridesmaid at my wedding. She’s one of my best friends!” 

“Its just business, Mother.” Ben's tone was cool and made it perfectly clear he couldn’t believe he was even having this conversation, especially with her of all people. “Look when Poe resurfaces from this week's love of his life, please tell him I put his $10,000 suit jacket that he left in the garden back in his room.” 

“You’re leaving the party already? But you’ll miss my fireworks!” 

”Oh but Mother, I’ve already had a pony ride and had my face painted.” Ben deadpanned. 

“Fine, you beast.” She said with a gentle smile. They both knew where his ambition and workaholic tendencies came from and it wasn’t his father. “Enjoy your work.” And with that Ben headed tin the direction of Poe's bedroom.   
  


***

As Rey sat on her bed next to her suitcase, she couldn’t stop herself from replaying that moment at the bottom of the tree. How she was a bloody coward. How she didn’t know if she could go years without telling him she thought he was the best of men.   
  
Suddenly determined, Rey stood up and headed back out towards the large house. She ducked into the kitchen where all the staff were still hustling about trying to make sure every hors d'oeuvres tray was just so. She nicked a bottle of champagne knowing it wouldn’t be missed (and a crab cake because it was right there and delicious) and made for the stairs to where she knew Poe’s room was. However when she made it to the top step, overwhelming fear gripped her. 

_What am I doing_? She thought as she scurried back down the stairs, _I can’t do this._ But when she reached the landing she stopped again. _It’s now or never, Rey. Woman up. You can do this._ She turned back around fiercely determined to see this through and walked back up the stairs. She stood outside Poe’s door only allowing herself the shortest of moments before giving a timid knock. 

  
  
***

  
  
Ben was in Poe’s closet hanging up his suit jacket when he heard the soft knocking on the bedroom door. Assuming one of the many housekeepers were coming in to hopefully clean up Poe’s disaster of a suite, Ben announced from inside the closet that it was fine for them to enter. 

After a moment of silence, he heard the softest voice say “I’ve come to say goodbye.” 

_It’s Rey,_ he thought to himself, recognizing her voice and remembering his mother telling him over his black coffee breakfast that Fairchild’s daughter would be leaving tomorrow for Paris. Ben started to leave the closet.

”No, don’t come out!” Rey shouted. “If I look at you I might not be able to get through this.”

Ben found himself confused by her words but obeyed and stayed hidden amongst Poe's clothes.

“I’m leaving tomorrow for Paris” Rey continued. “I’ll be away for a long time and I don’t expect you to think of me.” She paused for a moment, and her voiced crackly slightly when she continued. “You certainly haven’t thought about me while I was here.” 

He didn’t know why, but he almost felt a pain in his chest at her words. Maybe it was the sadness in her voice as she said them. 

“I just wanted to say that I think I know you better than anyone. I don’t care what they think about you, what they say about you. You’re kind and generous. You’re a wonderful person. I know you are. And for what it’s worth, please know that someone very far away is thinking of you.”

She paused again, collecting herself it seemed. “And if there is anything I could ever do for you..” 

Her voice trailed off. Her words affected him more than he cared to admit. It had been so long since someone had called him kind - or wonderful - if they ever had. He took a minute to let it wash over him, soak down into his skin. To see how it felt, to hear her quiet pretty voice say such things to him. 

But no one tells Ben these things because they’re not true. He’s not kind. He’s practical, a realist. He knew that Rey was here at Poe’s door, not his. Rey’s soft words belonged to someone else. 

So Ben stepped out of Poe’s closet and answered the question she’d left hanging in the air.

“If you could bring me back one of those little Eiffel Tower paper weights, that would be great.” 

Rey looked at him, sheer terror and humiliation painted on her face before fleeing the room without another word. Ben allowed himself a small smile, ignoring again the feelings inside him produced by her voice saying such sweet things. 

He left Poe’s room. He had to check on Tokyo and there was no reason to think about Rey Fairchild again. 


	2. THE ENGAGEMENT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, you’ve only been there for two weeks. I doubt very much that every single person in Paris thinks you’re an idiot” her father said.
> 
> “That’s because I haven’t met them all yet.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to LyricalRiot for this amazing prompt and to Mrs. Darcy for pre-reading and the support. 
> 
> The tags have been updated to include: cold feet. 
> 
> Warnings: fic will always involve unrequited love, this chapter includes a character having serious second thoughts about an engagement. 
> 
> As always I don’t own the characters or story, I do own the grammatical errors. Also any bad French or poor representations of how a magazine actually operates. 
> 
> Also, all uploads are done from my phone so I apologize for any weird formatting that might occur. 
> 
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read!

“Rey, you’ve only been there for two weeks. I doubt very much that every single person in Paris thinks you’re an idiot” her father said to her through the phone. His words were gentle but Rey thought back to her first day at the magazine last week and she shut her eyes against the  embarrassing  memory. 

_ Rey sat quietly by herself in the midst of all the loud comings and goings happening around her. She waited patiently outside the office of Gwendolyn Phasma while people yelled across the floor, things she didn’t understand with an urgency she’d never felt. Ms. Phasma was the production supervisor in charge of all of the photo shoots for the magazine. And Rey’s new boss.  _

_ Ms. Phasma walked out, six feet tall and a blonde bombshell to boot, and over to where Rey was sitting, still in her familiar three buns and what she now felt were very unposh clothes. She had felt smart when she’d dressed this morning, but now looking up at this goddess in front of her, Rey suddenly felt frumpy and unworthy in her old blue sweater. _

_ ”Rey, welcome to Vogue.” She said in English, for Rey’s benefit she was sure. Her words were accented, but soothing and beautiful. “You speak no French, yes?”  _

“ _No” Rey answered her. Ms. Phasma quickly looked at Rey in surprise. “I mean, uh, yes. I don’t speak French...I’m sorry, can you repeat the question, Ms. Phasma?”_

_ “Don’t worry so much” she smiled and it was warm and genuine. “Please call me Gwen.” She gestured to another woman that Rey hadn't even noticed was standing with her. “This is Jessika Pava. Go with her now, and I promise you’ll be just fine.”  _

_ Rey was not fine.  _

_ She followed Jessika around the office and down to the street where a photo shoot was starting. Jessika kept yelling at her. In French. Rey had absolutely no idea what she was telling her to do. Rey handed her the wrong colored belts  and given her hats  when she wanted scarves. Once she brought her a  g lass of water and Jessika looked at her as though she’d suddenly grown an extra head.  _

_ Gwen walked over to her, surely having seen how poorly Rey was doing and she braced for the criticism. Gwen was several inches taller than Rey, but when she placed her arm around her  shoulders, she bent her head down so their faces were side by side and almost touching . “ Rey don’t worry about Jessika. I tortured her. Now she tortures you. Succeed, and you’ll get someone of your own to torture.” She smiled kindly  again and walked back over by the photographer. Rey wasn’t sure if she wanted her own person to torture or not. _

_ The shoot continued on and  just when Rey thought things couldn’t get any worse another gentleman working, that she’d heard other people call Finn, was speaking to her in French and pointing. She had no idea in the slightest what he wanted. “Mademoiselle! S’il vous plait!” He was now shouting at her and pointing to a large fan across the set. She looked at him again and then walked across to the machine and turned it on.  _

_ Apparently, that was no t what he was asking her to do. Wind sent papers and props everywhere. One of the models sitting  nearby had been right in the middle of switching from her  eyeglasses to contacts and one had flown right off her finger.  _

_ Of course, Rey was the one to find it. Right when she’d taken a step forward and felt the little crunch beneath her very unstylish brown boot. Even Gwen, along with the photographer, had covered her face at that.  _

“That’s because I haven’t met them all yet.” Rey told her father, coming back to their conversation. 

“Rey, I’m sure things aren’t as bad as they seem. You’re in Paris after all. Go out and meet friends. See the world. You won’t even  have time to  think about you know who.” Rey’s heart sped up the way it always did when someone mentioned Poe. “You’ll forget about him in no time, Darling.” 

Rey looked up at the wall of her little studio apartment. The only decoration adorning it was a Calvin Klein ad. A twinge of guilt ate at her when she told her father he was probably right.   


***

**_Six Months Later_ **

Ben Solo was not known for his patience. He stood next to the car in front of his mother’s house checking his work emails. He would have been at the office an hour ago, but there he stood waiting in a  driveway for his mother to finish her morning ablutions and join him on his way into the city. Benjamin may be the CEO of The Organa Corporation but Leia Organa was Organa Corp. and she was the only person Ben ever willingly waited on. 

Ben looked up from his phone to see Poe strolling out of the house in ridiculously small athletic shorts and carrying a tennis racquet. He actually had a sweatband on his head holding back the curls from his eyes. Ben stopped himself from rolling his eyes at his baby brother. As if Poe had ever worked hard enough in his life at anything to build up a real sweat.  _ Except for women _ ,  Ben thought to himself.

”Poe, you do realize that you are an officer of The Organa Corporation.”  Ben said to his brother. 

“Good morning, Benny Boy!” 

“The address is 1927 Coruscant Avenue.” 

“ Oh come on, Ben” Poe started. 

“ Your office is on the 48th floor...”

Ben  stopped and  realized in that moment it was about three hours before Poe would normally drag himself out of bed. 

“Was there something you wanted?” Ben asked looking at his brother. There was always something Poe wanted. 

“Listen, Ben . I’ve got a girl coming over for dinner...and this one. She’s special.” 

Of course. 

“They always are” Ben said casually as he looked back down at his phone in an attempt to let Poe know that some people actually worked for a living. 

“I mean it, Ben. She’s really something. She’s smart.” 

“That’s never come up before”

“She’s a doctor for Christ’s sake!” Poe said.

“How did you meet her?” Ben asked his brother. A doctor? That was new. Normally he went for models. Or just undergrads who liked his charming smile and didn’t know any better. 

“I was at a party in the city. The host’s kid got sick and I volunteered to take him to the emergency room. She was the resident on duty. We had an instant connection, Ben. I mean it.” 

“How did the sick kid make out?” Ben said, still not looking up from his phone. 

“The kid? Oh. I’m sure he’s fine.” Poe said breezily. “But Ben...”

Ben finally looked up from his phone again. “Poe, what do you want. I’m already over an hour late to the office and I’m trying to work.” 

“I need you to make me look good.” 

“Come again?” 

“I mean, I know I always look good.” Poe grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. “But tell her my accomplishments. You know, all my good qualities. You can get creative.” 

Ben just stared at his brother. 

“Lie” Poe said to him, no longer smiling.

“I don’t know why you think she needs my opinion of you.” Ben said as he looked at his phone again, now an hour and 15 minutes late for work. 

“She says her folks know you. Her name is Connix. Dr. Kaydel Connix.” 

Ben’s dark eyes snapped up to Poe. “Connix? Of Connix Industries?” Ben asked sharply. 

Poe shrugged. “I guess. I assume so if you know them.” 

Typical Poe. How like him to start dating the heir to a  multibillion-dollar company without even realizing it. Ben, however, was already moving on to the possibilities that could come from such a merger. It would be his biggest deal yet. Connix Industries has the hottest new tech on the market and every business in town was looking to get in on the profits. 

“Sure, Poe.” Ben heard himself saying. “Bring her around and we’ll tell her all about your good qualities.”   
  
Poe beamed. 

At that  moment, his mother finally appeared walking over to the car. “Good morning, Brown Eyes” Leia said to her youngest son, hand on his cheek. Ben walked around the car, nodding to Fairchild to let him know they were finally ready to go. He was supposed to be heading back to his own apartment in the city tonight but he told Poe as he was getting in  that  he would be back for dinner with his new lady friend. 

Poe looked at Ben and then at his mother. “You guys work on Sundays now?” 

Ben once again just looked at him, in disbelief that he could be related to such an idiot. “It’s Wednesday, Poe.” and with that he got in the car.

“Lady friend?” asked his mother from the seat next to him. “Since when do you have dinner with Poe and his lady friends?” 

Ben was already bringing his phone up to his ear. “Did you know that Poe is seeing Patrick Connix’s daughter?” 

“Snoke? Patrick Snoke Connix?” Leia gasped. Of course Leia Organa saw all the same possibilities Ben did. She paused a moment, thinking.

”Hux, put Pryde on the phone. Pryde, I want you to start buying up stock for Connix Industries, but not so much than anyone will notic e us doing it. That’s it.” Ben hung up the phone before Pryde said anything back. He didn’t have time for questions, only actions. 

“Well” his mother  said, “I hope she doesn’t look like Snoke.”  


***

Rey was running back and forth between the models trying to towel off their plastic jackets and faces between photographs. Rey didn’t pretend yet to understand high fashion or why the models were all wearing see through  raincoats with little hoses hooked up to their arms so it looked like water was shooting from their  fingertips , but she was still enjoying herself today more than usual. The sun was shining and she allowed herself to smile.

As she was walking back over to stand by  Gwen, she heard DJ, the same photographer from her first disastrous day of work, telling the models how to move their bodies into exactly which way he wanted for the photo. He was a transplant too, like her, but from Puerto Rico. Sometimes when he was on  set, he would start speaking in Spanish and Rey would laugh, glad for once to not be the only one who didn’t understand what was being said. 

“Yes, now lift your leg just a bit higher. That’s it.” She heard him pause. “Have a drink with me.” He turned then to look her in the eyes. “Rey.” 

***

A few weeks later Rey was sitting at a table at a little cafe reading a book when she heard her name called out. “Rey!” She looked up to see Gwen standing there smiling down at her. “Do you mind if I join you?” 

“Not at all” Rey smiled back. Rey really did like Gwen. For all she was intimidating, she was also very kind. For whatever reason she had decided she liked Rey, and it made  her  work, and life in Paris a little bit easier. 

“No DJ today?” Gwen said laughing, giving her a knowing look. “No” Rey said. She gathered her thoughts for a moment, wondering if having this conversation with her boss was too personal, crossing over some imaginary boundary line. “I like DJ. He’s funny and sweet. He’s a wonderful photographer.”

Over the past few weeks Rey had been out with DJ multiple times. The first time Rey thought she might throw up on the way to the restaurant, but when they  arrived, she saw that Finn was also there, along with Rose who worked at the magazine  too  and Rey felt herself relax. It was a wonderful night with friends. After dinner they’d gone dancing. At the end of the night DJ has kissed her cheek.  He had never tried to do anything more. 

”He gave me a camera, you know. It’s lovely. I know everyone just uses their phones for taking photos now, but this is a real camera. It allows you to see the world in this whole new way. I must have take n 500 photos on the day he took me around the city to show me how to use it.” 

Rey stopped again. Unable to stop herself from thinking about another wonderful man with dark hair and dark eyes. 

“But someone else is in the way, yes?” Gwen looked at her again with her sharp crystal blue eyes. She never missed anything. For a moment Rey was reminded all of her nights in her tree watching  Ben and all of his intensity. He never missed anything either. She brushed the thought away as quickly as it came. “Is it Poe? You casually mentioned his name only 40 or 50 times when you  first  came over.” 

Rey felt her cheeks grow warm. 

“He sounds like an illusion, this man.”

”Well  he keeps me company” Rey said to her quietly. 

“Illusions can be dangerous.” Gwen continued. “They have no flaws.” Gwen seemed to be assessing her now, maybe she was thinking about invisible boundaries too. “I came here from Provence. All alone and uneducated. Every day for a year I sat at a cafe like this one. I drank coffee and wrote nonsense in a journal.” She stopped, taking a cigarette out of her purse, lighting it up with a drag. “Then one day it wasn’t nonsense. I went for long walks. I met myself in Paris.” She took another slow drag, once again smiling at Rey.

“ I only mention this because you seem embarrassed by your loneliness, by being alone.  It’s only a place to start.” 

***

_** One Year Later ** _

_**  
**_  
Ben was in a meeting when he heard his usually very composed P.A. speaking loudly in his crisp British accent. “Mr. Solo, you cannot go in there! He is in a meeting!” _ **  
**_

A moment later his door swung open and there stood Poe. “I need to talk to you.” 

Ben was incredulous. How like Poe to waltz into his office without a single care about his work. Not even so much as a curtesy knock. “I am in a meeting” Ben said in a voice that made the two other people in his office flinch. 

Poe continued to stand in his doorway. “When was the last time I came here?”    
  
Ben thought about that for a moment. Actually he couldn’t remember the last time in years Poe was at the office. “True” he answered. Without looking over at the other occupants of his office he dismissed them. The meeting could wait. 

Poe shut the door when it was just the two of them. “I wondered why I was suddenly being treated with so much respect!” 

“Something bothering you, Poe?” 

“You’ve been pushing me into this relationship with Kaydel so you could engineer a merger with Connix” Poe said fiercely as he threw down a copy of the Wall Street Journal on his desk featuring a headline about their possible deal.  Ben was more surprised that Poe had taken the time to look at a newspaper. 

Ben struggled to hold on to his patience. Again. “Pushing you?” Ben  stood . “I could burn in hell for the lies I’ve told for you.” Ben felt the skin under his left eye twitch and watched as Poe took a step backward away from him . “You begged me to make you look good.”

“ but you never said anything ”

“ Talk about your accomplishments. Be creative.” Ben continued. “Lie.” 

Poe’s shoulders slumped. The wind seemed to go out of his sails taking all of his bluster with it. He sat down in one of the chairs across from Ben. “I can’t do this, Ben. I’m not ready for this kind of commitment.” Ben considered him for a moment. Poe’s eyes had gone wide and there was sweat on his forehead.  Poe had asked Kaydel to marry him a week ago. Only a week and he was already trying to back out.  Jesus Christ , Ben thought to himself.  I’m not losing this fucking deal because Poe isn’t capable of being an adult. 

“Oh, I see.” Ben  said . “She must have asked you for an actual date.” 

“I don’t know what came over me. She heals children. I’m sure anyone would want to marry her but it was a moment of weakness. I can’t take care of a wife!” 

Ben just looked at Poe. “Kaydel is a doctor and a millionaire. She certainly doesn’t need you to take care of her.” 

Ben sighed. “Look, you don’t deserve her, but she appears to love you.”

“ Right?” Poe said, grasping at straws now. “I mean doesn’t that worry you a little  bit , a bout her mental health I mean?” 

“I really do have to get back to work now.”

”So it’s just a coincidence? The merger with Connix?” Poe asked. 

“ It’s opportunity” Ben said  coolly . “What do you expect me to do? Disqualify myself from a  billion-dollar deal because I might have family connections?” He couldn’t help but scoff a little.  “ We’ve got so much competition on this merger  that ...”

”You’re talking about my life!” Poe  yelled at him , blustery again. 

“I pay for your life, Poe. My life makes your life possible.” 

“I resent that.” 

“So do I!” Ben shouted back at his brother, finally raising his voice, and wanting to be done with this ridiculous conversation. “Look at yourself, Poe. You went to law school but never  sat for  the bar. You went to business school but you have no idea where your office is in this building. You’ve studied languages you don’t speak, musical instruments you don’t play. You’ve had a whole string of girlfriends you never see more than twice.”

“That’s rich that you’re lecturing me on closeness.” Poe shot back at him. “Your idea of a  long-term relationship is letting your date order dessert.” 

Ben sat back down at his desk and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t have time for dessert. I’m too busy with this company. You’re a grown man, Poe. Finish something. Kaydel Connix is the best thing that’s ever happened to you and you told me that yourself.” 

Ben couldn’t actually remember if  Poe had told him  anything of the sort about Kaydel , but Poe had said  it  so many times about everyone else in his life  that Ben felt no guilt  repeating it now . 

***

” _My Dearest Rey...”_

Rey smiled to herself sitting among her friends in the bar . She’d received the letter from her father today and grabbed it from her mailbox  on the  way to meet up with work friends for a drink. She loved that in this era of text messaging and FaceTime that her stuffy British father still preferred to write her letters. 

“ _My Dearest Rey,_

_ Although I am sure this will come as a shock, it is my belief that what I’m about to tell you is all for the best. I know how strongly you have always felt about this and so I have been reluctant to write...” _

Rey set down the letter. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. 

Engaged. 

Poe  Solo  was engaged to be married. 

Rey felt as though she couldn’t  breathe . Surely her heart had cracked right down the middle.  How do people live like this?  she thought to herself.

“Isn’t that right, Rey?” 

Hearing her name she turned towards DJ. “I’m so sorry, what did you say?” But as DJ started speaking with her again , Rey stared at him. He really was a  handsome man. Why was she doing this to herself? Why was she thinking about a man across the ocean when this one was right here? One who was kind and saw her. Who didn’t make her feel  invisible?

“Do you want to get out of here?” She blurted out. DJ just looked at her for a moment and then nodded his head yes. 

They stumbled into Rey’s apartment still wrapped in their kiss that had started in the hallway. He slowly walked Rey backwards towards her bed beginning to whisper to her in Spanish. As Rey laid down and DJ crawled over her, Rey suddenly thought about dark curly hair and a vibrant smile and how many times she had imagined this with him . DJ was kissing her neck now, still softly, and then he gave her jaw line just the smallest of bites. Rey shivered. When DJ moved to kiss her on her mouth he stopped and looked down at her. “I am in Paris” he  looked at her a little sadly. “But you are somewhere else.” 

“I’m so sorry, DJ. I should never have done this.” 

DJ gave her a small smile.  “I would love to help you, but what you have to fix, you won’t fix in bed. You have to fix it here , Rey ” he said running his fingertips along her forehead. 

“Come.” He said, jumping up from the bed. “The night is early and we can still get another drink with Finn and Rose, yes?” 

Rey laughed , filled with relief that this hadn’t ruined their friendship . “Yes we can.” As he started out of her  apartment, she called out to him that she would be just a moment. She walked over and looked her wall. It now held postcards and pictures she had taken of her  friends and the city. Menus and playbills of places she had been. B ut right in the middle was the Calvin Klein ad. Poe staring back at her. She took it down and threw it in trash. 

Months passed. Slowly Rey grew more confident at work. Her unstylish brown boots disappeared, replaced by black leather with a  three-inch heel. She took her hair out of the three buns and chopped it to her chin. She drank coffee and wrote nonsense in a journal at cafes.  When people asked her questions, she answered them in French.  She took pictures everywhere she went, and she didn’t think about Poe Dameron Solo. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was a fast two years but I promise I’m trying to get Rey and Ben back on the same continent as soon as possible. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter:  
> Lane_Reads_Reylo  
> @Lane56028431


	3. THE INVITATION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben watched as Poe kissed Rey’s cheek and walked over to the champagne tent. Ben felt something stir in his chest watching the gesture, but he associated it with wanting to kill Poe for fucking up his business deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to single person who has taken the time to read this story, comment, or left kudos! I love all of you! 
> 
> Special thanks again to LyricalRiot not only for the amazing prompt, but also for being wonderful and agreeing to Beta for me. Shout out as always to Mrs. Darcy for her words of encouragement. 
> 
> CW: unrequited love, cold feet, borderline infidelity. The tags have been updated to include infidelity. Please know there will never be cheating between Rey and Ben. 
> 
> As always, I own none of these characters but all of the grammatical errors. 
> 
> When we left off Rey was living her best Poe free life, but childhood dreams are hard to give up, especially when they look at you like that.

***

_ Dear Dad,  _

_ This is my last letter from Paris, I may even be home before you get it. Don’t worry about picking me up, I’d like to be able to surprise you.  _

_ It’s amazing. It’s gone by so quickly. You know, Gertrude Stein once said “America is my country and Paris is my hometown.” I’ll always feel that way about Paris. I want so much for you to know what this time has meant to me. _

_ It’s turned cold out, but I don’t feel cold. Someone across the street is playing La Vie En Rose. They do it for the tourists, but I’m always surprised by how it moves me. It means seeing life through rose colored glasses. Only in Paris where the light is pink could that song make sense, but I’ll have it in my pocket when I get home and I’ll take it with me wherever I go from now on.  _

_ Love to you, Dad.  _

_ Rey  _

***

Ben stepped out of the house and into the garden where his father and brother were sitting together, cold drinks in their hands.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” His father asked as he stood and gave him one of those half hugs where he put one arm around his shoulders. Or at least tried to, Ben has been taller than his father since he was 15, but Han was the only person who ever still hugged him. His father hadn’t grown up in the world of excess and privilege the way he and Poe had, or even his mother. He was a poor kid who knew how to drive fast and got lucky by being in the right place at the time. A rising formula one success, he’d met Leia in Monaco and that was that. It made him less prudish, and he gave his love freely. Ben was always secretly glad for it, not that he would ever let anyone know.

“I drove out with Leia, I have to be here for the party anyway” he said to his father while he took a seat next to Poe. 

“What did you get her?” Poe asked. 

“A new phone. She needs to give up that dinosaur flip thing. It’ll optimize her ability to work away from the office” 

Poe laughed. “You sentimental fool.” 

Ben looked over at him. “It’s easy for you. She’s so glad you set a date that you’ll never have to get her another gift again.” 

“That’s not what she says” Poe shot back. “Anyway, I got her a little Picasso. I’m having it wrapped in town.” 

_ Jesus fucking Christ.  _

“What’s that costing me?” Ben asked him. 

“I don't know.” Poe said with a shrug. 

“So” Poe kept on talking. “Who's the new bidder on Connix? Rebellion Tech?” 

Ben was surprised, it wasn’t like Poe to talk about his work. “And a couple of other companies,” he replied. 

“Stock or cash options?” 

Ben gave his brother the smallest of smiles. “I love it when you talk dirty.” Poe and his father both laughed. 

At that exact moment a little creature making very loud noises went running past the group of men. Ben was momentarily stunned. “What is that?” 

“A dog,” his father said. 

Ben couldn’t help the look that came over his face. “Why?” 

“It was Kaydel’s birthday present to Leia,” Poe answered. “She feels bad she’s missing her party because she’s stuck at a conference at UCLA this week.” The three of them watched the dog as it kept running across the yard while one the house staff tried to catch it. 

“I’m off to pick up Mother's gift,” Poe announced while standing up. He turned to look down at Ben. A rarity because Ben towered over him when they were standing. “I want you to know, I’m glad about Kaydel,” 

Ben found himself in a rare good mood. Poe seemed to be behaving well enough as far as Kaydel was concerned and this whole thing with Connix was basically a done deal. 

“You should be.” Ben said looking up at him. “She’s terrific. Smart, independent. Pretty.” 

“Then why don’t you marry her?” Poe deadpanned. 

All of the humor left Ben’s face.

“I’m kidding!” 

***

Rey set her suitcases down and watched the bus drive off again to it’s next stop. Rey looked around for a moment, taking in the sites and sounds of the shops. She felt a smile come to her face. She’d missed this. Even with Paris and all of its splendor, she missed this feeling of being almost home, the smell of the ocean in the air.

It was warm today on the shore. The sun was shining and Rey was grateful for her oversized dark sunglasses. She felt the sun on the back of her black dress and hoped it wouldn’t take too long to get a ride back home. She’d just reached into her purse to find her phone and order herself a Lyft when she saw it, parked just a few feet away from where she was standing. A Porsche. It was red, a convertible of course, not to be missed in the sea of black and silver sedans making their way up and down the small roads. The owner wanted to be noticed. He was used to it. Rey used to watch Poe drive off in it sometimes, and wish she were in the passenger seat.

She looked around then, her breath catching as she reached a hand up to tussle the short waves of her hair, a nervous gesture. And then Rey began to smile, she was going to see him.

She watched as he strolled out of one of the shops, holding a package wrapped in brown paper. He looked handsome, his curly hair blowing and his skin tanned from the sun. He was wearing white slacks with some ridiculously gaudy button up shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Somehow it managed to only add to his good looks, not detract from them. She found herself giddier by the moment. Two years and now here he was, right in front of her.

She watched as he leaned over and placed the package in the back seat of the Porsche and then he noticed her standing there. He almost seemed to do a double take, and then he smiled.  _ He is smiling at me!  _ Rey almost felt faint. 

“Hi!” Rey called over to him, with maybe a touch too much enthusiasm. “How are you?”

He looked around for a moment, as if he were making sure she was speaking to him. “I’m great” he said, looking at her now, with a hint of confusion on his face but smiling just the same. “How are you?” he asked. 

“I’m good,” Rey replied with a laugh. “I’m just surprised to see you here.” 

“Well, you know me,” Poe said, pausing for a moment. “Don’t you?”

He looked down then and saw her luggage and then back up at her with a grin. “Can I give you a lift?”

Rey started to laugh. Was this a dream? “Are you going home?” 

“Yes, I am.” Poe said back slowly, as if gauging whether or not that was the right response. 

“Well that’s convenient!” She laughed again. She was suddenly unable to believe her luck. Not only would she not have to wait for a Lyft to pick her up, but she would be with him. In his car, with him smiling at her like that. “If you’re terribly sure you wouldn’t mind.” 

“Here, please let me help you with your things.”

They drove in comfortable silence for a few moments but Rey watched as he kept sneaking glances over at her.

“You know I, uh, can’t seem to remember the name of your street?”

It finally occurred to Rey, as he said those words, that he didn’t have the slightest idea who she was. For a brief moment pain sliced through her, but then something else seemed to replace it. She wasn’t the same girl that had left for Paris after all. Why did it matter that he didn’t recognize her? Suddenly she felt more confident than ever as she pressed her red stained lips together and turned to him with a smile. 

“Alderaan Lane” She said, watching his reaction.

“What? That’s where I live!” He looked at her again, eyes searching her face.

“Small world then.” Rey told him. 

“Or big lane” Poe chuckled. 

Rey slipped her glasses from her face and set them on top of her head. “You don't recognize me do you?” She said. 

“Of course, I do. You’re my neighbor... that lives on Alderaan Lane.” The grin he gave her was heart stopping.

She really laughed then, out loud and as happy as she could be. “And you’re Poe.” 

She watched as he tried once again to place her face. “Yes, I am. One of the lesser Organa-Solos.” 

“Oh, in what way lesser?” Rey teased. 

“Pretty much in every way” he replied. She watched him closely, as his smile faded just a little before he brightened back up again. “But please, no pity.” 

“I could have sworn I knew every pretty girl on the North Shore.” Poe said to her then, still fishing to find out who she was, obviously hoping flattery would work. 

“I could have sworn you took in more territory than that.” Rey quipped back, putting her sunglasses back down on her face.

“Ouch” Poe laughed but they both knew he wasn’t offended. It was the truth after all.

And then Rey remembered.

“I did hear a while back that you’d gotten engaged to be married.”

“Oh. Well we’re both really busy people. It’s been difficult to set a date.”

Rey considered his answer. He’s been engaged for several months now but they haven't set a date. She knew even now that she should stop laughing with him, stop flirting with him, not only for his fiancée’s sake but for her own self-preservation as well. Right now, however, in this perfect dream with him looking at her and the wind blowing in their hair, she found she didn’t want to, and didn’t care. 

“Give me one clue.” Poe said. 

“I certainly will not, this is far too much fun.”

“There’s your driveway.” Rey announced, pointing over on the left, her heart hammering at the site of home after so long and being able to see her father again soon.

Poe slowed his car. “Did you want to come inside for a drink?”

Rey smiled. It was the smile of a woman who had just gotten exactly what she always wanted. “What a good idea.”

Poe turned in and Rey could see all the vendors hurrying around the property, flowers and lights and the stage for the band being put together. 

“It looks like you’re having a party.” She thought for a moment. “It’s too late to be an engagement party” she asked him as he parked the car. Rey stepped out and looked around the grounds. The smell of gardenias hung heavy in the air. They were Mrs. Organa-Solo’s favorite.

“Oh. No, it's not. My fiancée is actually in California, she won’t be at the party.” Rey felt a sudden heaviness in her belly at his confession. “It’s my mother’s birthday.” He stopped, gazing at her for a moment. Rey felt herself reach up and lift her sunglasses away from her face so that she could look at his eyes without a barrier between them. “The party starts at nine o’clock. You should come.”

How many times could a person die of happiness in a single day? 

“You want me to come to the party?”

“Very much.” Poe looked right back into her eyes. “if you’ll tell me who you are.” 

“Hello, Rey.”

The deep baritone voice was like a bucket of ice water being poured over her head. Her little game was suddenly over. She turned and looked and there was Ben reaching into the boot of his car and pulling out a wrapped present, with a big pink bow. His black hair was even longer now, almost brushing his shoulders.

“Hello, Ben.”

***

“Rey?” Ben heard his brother say. 

“Did you have a nice time in Paris?” Ben asked.

“Yes, thank you.” she said back to him, barely above a whisper. 

“Rey?” his brother repeated a little louder. Ben looked over at him wondering what the problem was before turning back to Rey. 

He stood there, appraising her for a moment. She had a look of panic on her face, almost as though she was about to be ill, but that wasn’t completely unusual. Rey was more often than not anxious around them, even as a child. She certainly didn’t look like a child now, standing there in her heels with legs that went on for miles. She was no longer wearing the strange three ponytails she’d always had in her hair growing up, it was chopped short to just below her chin. She really was quite striking. 

“You look all grown up.” He said to her, offering a friendly smile. He knew he’d embarrassed her the last time they spoke those years ago.

“Rey?” he heard his brother’s strangled voice once more.

“Why does he keep saying that?” Ben asked Rey. What the hell was wrong with Poe?

Rey suddenly backed away and started in the direction of the garage. “I have to go see my father.”

“Wait, Rey!” 

Ben watched as his brother tried to stop her escape.

“I’ll come get my things in a little bit. Thank you for the ride” she was practically running in her heels to get away from them.

Ben looked at his brother then, the expression on his face akin to someone who had just been hit over the head.

Ben’s good mood vanished.  _ Fuck _ .

“Poe.” His brother turned and looked at him. “No.”

“I was just - .”

“No” he said again. “No.”

***

She was floating. Actually floating. She had been mortified, of course, when Ben had so easily revealed her to Poe. But now walking up to her father’s apartment over the garage all she could think was that Poe had invited her to one of the Organa-Solo parties. No more watching from her tree. 

“Rey! Oh my god! Look at you, you’re beautiful!” 

Rey smiled “Maz! Oh Maz, I’ve missed you so much!” Rey pulled the older woman into her arms. She’d been a housekeeper on staff here at the estate for as long as her father had. She teared up now seeing the familiar face. “I’m so glad to see you! I brought you back a scarf, Maz, a real Paris scarf. I’ll show you how to tie it.” 

Maz looked up at her and then leaned in for a second hug. “Have you seen him yet?” 

“Oh yes!” Rey exclaimed enthusiastically, thinking back on her ride home from town with Poe. “Oh wait? Who?” 

“Your father,” Maz said, looking at her with a knowing smile. 

“Oh no, no, I’m on my way to find him now.”

“He wasn’t in the house. I think he and Mr. Solo snuck off to the back garden to have a cigar before the party tonight.” 

Her father and Mr. Solo had always been close. She imagined they had bonded over both driving cars for a living, although in admittedly different ways. 

Rey also suspected that over the years Maz and her father’s relationship had blossomed into something beyond friendship, but as no one had ever said anything to her about it, she didn’t bring it up to Maz now. It made her happy though, to know that her father wasn’t alone. 

“Thanks, Maz. I’ll see you in a bit.” 

A little while later, Rey was in her room emptying out her luggage that had been brought up to the garage and telling her father about all of her adventures. 

“I’ve missed you so much, Dad.” Rey felt herself getting emotional again. She looked up at him “well,” she said wiping away a stray tear, “that’s about enough of that, I have presents for you.” She marched over to her luggage and started pulling out various items. 

“Let’s have a look here shall we? Now this is for going out” Rey said as she draped a silk blue tie over her father’s shoulder. “And this is for staying in,” she laughed, setting a bottle of brandy on his lap. “And finally, for laughs,” Rey said as she placed a black beret on top of his head. Her father laughed too. 

“It’s better than Christmas.” 

She saw him looking at a pile of photos she had taken out and set on the little table by the chair. “Who took these photographs?” 

“I did.”

“Rey, these are wonderful. You took them?”

Rey went back to her luggage and pulled out a beautiful green gown. It had been an extravagant purchase at the time, especially not knowing when she would have the occasion to wear it. Butterflies filled her stomach thinking about wearing it tonight.

“I hope I can get all of the wrinkles out of my dress for tonight.” 

“Mrs. Organa-Solo’s birthday party is tonight.” Her father said, not doing well to keep the curiosity out of his voice. 

“Yes, I’ve been invited.” 

Her father stared at her. “By whom?” 

“By Poe” Rey tried to say as casually as possible. She could see the disappointment already beginning to appear on her father’s face but pushed it aside. 

“Of course, he didn’t know it was me when he invited me.” She was still trying to be nonchalant, not giving away both her excitement at Poe’s attention and the lingering feelings of hurt at Poe not realizing who she was.  _ Even Ben knew who I was.  _ She thought about that for a moment. If there was any person she’d expected to not recognize her, it would be him. He was always so focused on his work, she’d figured he never bothered to look in her direction. She wasn’t quite sure how it made her feel, thinking of his dark eyes on her when he told her she looked all grown up. She shook the thoughts away, holding the dress in front of her and looking in the mirror. Ben Solo would remain a mystery. 

“And now that he knows?” Her father said breaking into her thoughts. “Well I’m still invited I guess.” She turned back to him. She knew he worried about her and wanted to protect her. But she’d spent her whole life waiting for this moment. To no longer be in that tree. To no longer be invisible. “Please, Dad.” She said. “I promised myself all those years ago. Hundreds of times. Thousands of times that I would one day go. And now I’m invited.” 

***

Rey stood at the edge of the garden. She was once again watching all the people in their dresses and tuxedos with their champagne and scotch. This time, she was in a dress as well. She looked up at her tree, butterflies once again coming to her stomach and then searched the crowd. There he was, his white suit jacket standing out in a crowd of black. He looked over at that moment, stopping his conversation and smiling, he walked over to where she stood.

“You’re here. You look beautiful.” 

Rey almost fainted. “So do you” she said and then she felt her face flush when she realized what she’d said. “Handsome, you look handsome I mean.” 

Poe continued to smile and held his elbow out. Rey took it and followed him further into the crowd. 

“I can’t believe I’m here.” She was stuck by nerves and couldn’t help but find herself babbling aloud. “I went to a party once in Provence. I didn’t know a single person and everyone was speaking in French. I could hardly understand a word but I felt more comfortable there than I do now.” 

Poe grabbed two glasses of champagne from a waiter standing nearby and handed one to her. “Here drink this as quickly as possible and it all won't seem so bad.” Rey looked at the drink for a moment and then tipped the whole thing back. 

“Better?” Poe asked her. 

“No, not yet” 

“Trust me, keep drinking.” 

“I’ve just spent the last two years in Paris, there may not be enough.” 

Poe tipped his head backed and laughed. _ I made him laugh _ .  _ Christ, I’ve made him laugh.  _

“Dance with me.” Poe said, suddenly serious. 

“Right now?” Rey's palms were sweaty again. _ It’s okay, breath _ , she tried to tell herself.  _ You’ve danced with plenty of men.  _

“While the music is playing” he smirked. “It’s usually harder when it stops.” 

Not men like him though. 

Poe put one arm on her waist and pulled her closer to him.

***

Ben was on the terrace with Han and Leia. Snoke had just arrived with his wife, Bazine, and she and his mother were talking about the wedding. 

Ben was doing his best to ignore the conversation. He didn’t care for frivolous details about colors and the number of guests. If it wasn’t for the deal with Connix he would have excused himself from this conversation ages ago. He found it exhausting, pretending to care about how Bazine couldn’t possible put her niece at the same table as her second cousin once removed’s daughter for whatever reason Ben didn’t give a fuck about. 

“Who’s that dancing with Poe?” Bazine suddenly asked his mother. 

“Oh that’s just, oh my! That’s Rey! Well, she just looks…” his mother hastily stopped herself from whatever it was she was going to say “Poe’s known her since she was two years old.” Leia finished in her most soothing voice. 

Han whistled. Ben rolled his eyes. 

“She didn’t have that dress when she was two years old” Snoke grumbled. 

Ben looked over into the crowd to see where the two of them were dancing. Rey was in a deep green gown, the top part over her shoulder seemed to be covered in a see through material and the dress clung to every curve she had. She’d been striking this afternoon, sun kissed and happy to be home, but out on the dance floor now with Poe… 

_ Fuck Fuck Fuck _

Ben brought his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Patrick, she’s like a sister to him” his mother tried again. 

“I have a sister, we don’t dance like that.” 

“Leia has a brother that sometimes—” His father never finished his sentence, his mother’s elbow landing decidedly between his ribs. 

***

“You know,” Rey told Poe, as they swayed to the music, “I’ve been to every single party you’ve had. I was right there.” She said pointing behind her. “Watching from that tree, like a bat. And now here we are, dancing in front of God and everyone.” 

“I should have paid more attention to you. I don’t know what I was thinking of.” 

“Yourself” Rey told him. They both knew it was true.

“It feels so good to hold you, Rey.” Poe used his hand on her waist to pull her a little closer. “Do you know how beautiful you are?” 

“Yes.” Rey said with as much confidence as she could muster up. Poe laughed at her and then she gave him a small smile. “And no. Not really.” 

“You’re dazzling.” Poe said. “Suddenly back in my life and you’re dazzling.” 

“Am I?” She asked him, not able to breathe, “back in your life?”

“I can’t believe this is happening. You’re absolutely transformed.” Poe said. 

“And you’re exactly the same” Rey smiled at him. “You were perfect. You still are.”

She wanted to reach up and push his curls behind his ear. She started to bring her hand up, but stopped.  _ What are you doing, Rey?,  _ she thought, wondering if she should pull away now, out of his arms and off of this dance floor.  _ He’s not yours to touch. He’s marrying someone else! _

Poe stopped dancing. “Let’s go someplace where we can talk.” 

“We’re talking right now.” She said to him. 

“Rey, I haven’t seen you in years. I’m not sure I ever really saw you. We could go -“

_ This is it. This is really happening to me. To invisible me.  _ Rey forgot all about the reasons why she wanted to walk away from him. 

“To the solarium?” She cut him off. 

“What?” Poe asked her, started by her interruption. 

“It has to be the solarium. You’ll bring a bottle of champagne and put the glasses in your back pockets” 

Poe’s eyes never left hers. “You were paying attention.” 

He stepped back from her for a moment, but then seemed to think better of it and stepped forward again, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “I’ll meet you there.” Then he turned to walk away. 

Rey stood there for a moment, chest rising and falling with the mounting tension coiling in her body. “And then I’ll wake up,” she whispered. 

***

Ben watched as Poe kissed Rey’s cheek and walked over to the champagne tent. Ben felt something stir in his chest watching the gesture, but he associated it with wanting to kill Poe for fucking up his business deal. Leia gave Ben that classic Organa stare that meant go over there and get your brother so we can deal with this. He heard her making excuses to Snoke and Bazine so she and Han could slip away, something about the dog. 

Ben walked over and up to Poe, who already had a bottle of champagne in his hands, putting a friendly hand on his shoulder. “You got a minute?” 

Poe grinned up at him. “No, actually -“ 

Ben moved his hand up from Poe’s shoulder to the back of his neck and applied enough pressure for Poe to know he wasn’t fucking around right now.

“Sure you do, Leia wants to see you.” 

He led Poe away from the garden, back to the house and into his mother’s office where his parents were waiting. 

“What are you doing? Are you insane? Right smack dab in front of your prominent and paranoid future in-laws you are hustling the chauffeur’s daughter?” 

“Mother, we were dancing!” Poe tried to explain. “You mean I can’t dance and have a drink with an old friend?” 

“Do I look stupid?” Leia said looking at him.

If Ben wasn’t so pissed at Poe he would have felt sorry for him. Ben was always the one known for his fury, but no one ever stopped to wonder where it came from.

“I never thought of myself as stupid but maybe I am.” 

“I didn’t do anything!” Poe said all but yelling at her.

“You were planning to!” 

“How do you know?” He shot back.

Ben couldn’t help himself. “You’re kidding, right?” Ben could see the glasses in Poe’s back pockets. Everyone knew what came next. 

“Poe, you’re like my own son,” Leia continued dramatically. 

“Here we go” Ben heard his father say as he moved towards the whiskey decanter on the credenza. 

“I am your son, Mother.” 

“Exactly! I endured 21 hours of hard labor to bring you into this world. The doctors begged me to take something for the pain but I kept saying I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my baby.” 

Ben decided he might need a whiskey as well.

Leia walked up to Poe and poked him right in the chest. “Well I’ve changed my mind. Rey is a good girl, but you’re engaged. You do something to screw up with Kaydel and I’ll kill you myself.” 

“But there's just something about Rey.” Poe said, trying to plead with their mother now. “I know this sounds crazy but I really think I’m falling in love with her.” 

“Jesus, Poe.” 

“I didn’t plan this, she’s just something.” He paused trying to find the right word. “She’s sensational.” 

His mother looked at him, completely unmoved. “The last time you thought someone was sensational it cost this family 1.5 million dollars.” 

“But this is different” 

“How original,” Ben said as he lifted his glass to his mouth for a sip of whiskey. 

“What about Kaydel?” Leia asked. “You finally found the right girl.” 

“Whose parents just happen to own the right company.” 

“Poe” his father started but Ben looked again at the champagne flutes tenting the back of Poe’s jacket. Ben knew there was nothing either one of his parents could say to him to make him give her up. A lifetime of zero restraint and these were the consequences. 

Someone had to take back control of the situation. 

“Mother, go blow out your candles.” Ben told her, but his eyes remained on his brother. He saw his parents move toward the doorway but they still stood inside the office. 

“Poe, what is it you think Rey wants?” He asked him. “She’s lived her whole life about that garage with her nose pressed against the glass. Or in that tree watching us at parties. Now you’ve invited her to one. You’re in a tuxedo and she’s waiting for you in the solarium. She knows you’ll show up with a bottle of champagne.” With each word he said he took a step closer to his brother. 

“What does that have to do with anything?” Poe asked him. 

“She knows what’s coming. The private jet to Martha’s Vineyard. The cottage, full of food and flowers. House seats to whatever sold out show. A day or two of that and she would fall for anyone.” 

“You don't know how I feel. I can’t be engaged to someone when I feel like this.” 

“Poe” 

“Ben, I have to go.” 

“Poe, sit down.” 

“No, Ben seriously.” 

“Sit down!” Ben shouted at him. 

Poe huffed and threw himself down on the nearest chair. He promptly screamed. 

Leia rushed over. “Oh my god, Poe, what’s happened!” 

“The glasses!” Poe said, gritting his teeth against the pain. “I’ve sat on the glasses!” 

Ben didn’t show a single speck of emotion. 

Leia looked over at his father like she couldn’t believe such a thing. “Who would put glasses on the chair?” 

“Mother, can we please discuss this another time?” Poe said eyes closed and chest heaving. 

“Mother, go with dad to find Dr. Kalonia. I believe I saw her at the bar.” Ben turned back to his brother.

“Rey '' Poe panted, opening one eye to look at Ben. “She’s waiting for me.”

Ben thought about Rey in the solarium in her green dress. He picked up Poe’s bottle of champagne. 

“I’ll take care of her.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, guys. We’re so close. Please hang in there! 
> 
> Find me on Twitter!  
> Lane_Reads_Reylo  
> @LaneReads


	4. THE SOLARIUM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “They’ve sent you to deal with me, haven’t they?” Rey asked him quietly.
> 
> “They?” 
> 
> “Like a lawyer in a movie.” It was her turn to laugh now, though it was bitter. “Who goes to the unsuitable waitress, or showgirl, or” she paused, her eyes going back up to meet his again. “The chauffeur’s daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone reading, commenting and leaving kudos! I appreciate all of you so much and it’s really helping my first fic anxiety! 
> 
> Also thank you so much, as always, to LyricalRiot on AO3 (@Little_womp_rat on Twitter) for this amazing prompt and for beta reading for me. Shout as again to Mrs. Darcy for listening to me think out loud about Ben and Rey all week. 
> 
> Tags were updated this week to include pain killers and pain medication. 
> 
> CW: This chapter includes Poe under the influence of pain medication for his injuries. There’s no abuse of narcotics but I wanted to make sure it was included that he would be a little out of it due to the medication in his system.

Rey stood in the glass room among the many exotic flowers, with a lovesick smile that wouldn’t leave her face.

She looked up to the sky through the glass ceiling, gazing at the stars as she waited. How many of them had she wished upon to be right here in this very spot? 

She heard the twinkling sound of champagne glasses being carried together and turned around, her heart feeling like it might beat out of her chest, it was pounding so.

And then, her heart seemed to slow, stutter to a stop, and fall to the floor.

“Ben.”

Rey stood there, rooted to the ground like one of the potted plants all around her.

“Hello Rey” Ben said, a hint of a smile on his face. 

What was Ben doing here, smiling at her like that?

“I have a message from Poe. He won’t be able to make it.”

_ Not able to make it?  _

Rey wasn’t sure if she was going to laugh or cry. Everything was finally perfect, exactly as it should be. She had the beautiful dress; she could hear the orchestra. The air was heavy and tropical in the solarium, and tucked in among the ferns was the chaise lounge Poe was supposed to lead her to after they danced. 

She’d lived this fantasy in her mind a million times over. It never once included Ben showing up with a bottle of champagne and shattering her dreams. 

Ben looked at her gently, his eyes softening, almost as if she were a small child needing comfort after a tumble. “You’re upset. Of course.” 

“No, um, yes.” Rey fumbled the words out. “Well, I don’t know.”

She sighed. “I‘m a little tired,” she said, bringing her hand up to her forehead. Was it just this morning she had been standing on the side of the road so happy to be back home?

“Why didn’t he come?” Rey couldn’t help but ask. 

“Well, he was on his way, but he had an accident.” Ben said as he popped open the bottle of champagne that he had been holding. “He sat on a champagne flute.”

Rey gasped, “is he okay?”

She watched as he carefully filled the two glasses.

“He’s in the emergency room,” Ben said. 

“Emergency room?” She was getting upset and she looked at Ben again now, Poe must have been badly injured. 

“It was a sharp flute.” Ben laughed. Rey couldn’t help but stare, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen such a thing. Ben laughing. He didn’t seem upset though, so maybe Poe wasn’t badly hurt? 

Or maybe Ben was just too cold to care. 

“Should I drive over to see him?” She asked. 

“He’ll be fine, a couple of stitches and you can see him tomorrow.” Ben handed her a glass and then raised his up a little, as if to toast her before taking a sip. 

“What’s this?” she looked down at the glass.  _ Stop being stupid, Rey. It’s obviously a drink _ . She was nervous again, feeling out of control of the situation.

“It’s part of the message” Ben said, that hint of a smile back on his face, “from Poe.” 

Rey decided that maybe she really was dreaming after all. What else could explain how she came to be standing here in the solarium with Benjamin Solo. What was he even doing here, laughing with her and toasting champagne? 

_Oh_.

_ Oh yes. _

“They’ve sent you to deal with me, haven’t they?” Rey asked him quietly.

“They?” Ben looked down at her, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. She felt the heat rise to her face and looked away again. She refused to be embarrassed by him.

“Like a lawyer in a movie.” It was her turn to laugh now, though it was bitter. “Who goes to the unsuitable waitress, or showgirl, or” she paused, her eyes going back up to meet his again. “The chauffeur’s daughter.” 

Ben’s expression gave nothing away. It was almost as if he had slipped a mask on, covering the smile he had allowed her to see for only a moment.

She continued speaking to him. “The family is prepared to offer you a hundred thousand dollars to stay away from their son” Rey felt her eyes begin to sting and blinked, though she was joking, it still hurt. “No she says, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, no –“

“Two hundred thousand.” Ben cut her off. 

“No.” She said, startled by his interruption. Rey once again found herself unable to look away from Ben. 

“One million dollars.” 

He dropped the mask, giving her a small smile. “No self-respecting lawyer would offer less.”

_ He’s absolutely serious. _ She knows by the dark look in his amber eyes, the intensity with which he says it. Benjamin Solo never jokes, let alone about money. He would give her a million dollars right now to walk away. To leave her home again, go back to Paris. To never see Poe again. 

She feels the tears well up in her eyes, more than just a sting now, her sadness threatening to spill over on to her cheeks. She lifts her drink, sipping the champagne. 

“No self-respecting waitress would take it,” she tells him. 

Ben moved closer to her as they were speaking. She knew he was tall, but there he was almost close enough to touch and positively towering over her. He smiled again. It almost seemed dangerous, him smiling like that, and in that moment she realized she’d gotten it wrong. His smile was actually the mask.

“Good girl.” He whispered.

Rey shivered, and it had nothing to do with the temperature in the solarium. She walked away from him, needing to put space between her and Ben.  


Her back was to him when she quietly made her confession.

“I’ve loved him all my life.”

“Have you?” 

“I thought I was over it, had moved past it all while I was in Paris.” 

“Surprise, surprise.” Ben said. Something in his voice made her turn to look at him again, it almost sounded sympathetic. He could have told her she was being fanciful or she was living in a dream world, things her father often said to her, but he didn’t.

“You don’t object?” Rey asked him. 

“Object? To you?” He was still speaking softly. “Look at you, it’s as though a lovely breeze has swept through this whole house.” She felt her face grow warm again, this time it wasn’t embarrassment. 

“Even if that breeze comes from the general direction of the garage?” she couldn’t help but quip back at him.

“Rey, don’t you think you’re being a little old fashioned?” Ben said, eyes wide and innocent. 

Rey gathered herself up to her full height, shoulders back and ready to square off with this giant of a man who was clearly making fun. 

Right as she was about to tell him off, she heard it. 

The band had just started playing one of her favorite songs. All of her anger fizzled away as she listened and realized she was once again alone. It didn’t matter that she had been invited. It didn’t matter that she had the dress. Poe wasn’t here, she might as well be back up in her tree.

“I love this song,” she couldn’t help but tell Ben. “They played it the night before I left for Paris.”

Ben listened for a moment. “They often do.”

“Poe was right here, dancing with someone else.”

“He often does.” He paused. “And tonight you wanted it to be you.”

She knew it was obvious, yes of course she wanted it to be her, but she still felt like a silly girl hearing him say it. She felt exposed somehow for Ben to see as he stood there knowing her so well. 

He walked closer to her, slowly, almost as if he were afraid of startling her, but still with the confidence of a man who seldom heard the word no. He stopped right in front of her, before reaching a hand out and putting it around her waist.

“It’s all in the family” Ben said as he took her other hand and began to dance with her. 

“What are you doing?” Rey looked up at him, shocked and she purposely ignored the way his hand completely engulfed hers or the warmth she felt on her back through her dress.

“I should have thought it was obvious?” 

She watched him for a moment as they danced, taking in his hard lines and soft mouth. She could see every freckle on his face, like constellations in the night sky.  _ He’s handsome _ , she thought, almost startled by the revelation. Not in the conventional way that Poe was, with his classic blinding smile and boyish charms, but something in the way all of his sharp angles came together, they blended into something beautiful. 

She suddenly looked away from his face, overwhelmed to be thinking about Ben in such a manner and not Poe. She closed her eyes as they danced, she hadn’t been lying when she’d told Ben she was tired. All the excitement and adrenaline from the day had worn off, leaving her raw and wrung out. 

She moved to the music with Ben and found herself, after a moment, laying her head against his chest. She almost smiled, once again lost in a nonsensical dream, where chauffeurs' daughters danced at Organa-Solo parties and listened to their partners’ heartbeats. _Maybe_ , she allowed herself to think for a small moment, _maybe tonight I’m not alone after all._

“In all those years, I’ve never seen you do this,” she said to him, not moving her head from his chest. “Meet a girl here with champagne.”

“I never did it before” He said with a nonchalance she didn’t quite believe.

_ Of course he hasn’t _ , she thought. “You never had to before,” she said, knowing Poe had never tried to dance with someone quite as unacceptable as her.

“Maybe I was just waiting for the right dance. Is it impossible to believe that I wanted to dance with the prettiest girl at the party?”

“Thank you.” Rey automatically answered, years of good manners not allowing her to ignore his compliment. She looked back up at him. “Yes, it is impossible to believe.”

“Then you don’t know me.” 

He stopped dancing and let go of her hand. “Oh, I almost forgot.”

Never taking his eyes from hers, he brought his hand up, brushing it along her neck, before it stopped, resting lightly on the side of her face. Rey’s breath grew shallow as she felt his thumb move under her jaw. She hadn’t thought there was any space left between them, but he managed to pull her even closer. She could smell the champagne on his breath, the notes of his expensive cologne. Then very gently, he used his thumb and pushed her chin up, lifting her face to his.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He stilled, lips against hers for a moment, unmoving as if to see how she would react. Rey, however, was utterly paralyzed, unable to even breathe. She felt his tongue begin to tease along the seams of her mouth, and once again he used his thumb with the slightest pressure, this time silently asking for her to open her mouth up for him. Rey found herself wanting nothing more as she complied, and his tongue swept in to meet hers.

It was consuming, kissing Ben. She didn’t know how or why this had happened but part of her wished it would never end. He was warm, fierce but gentle all at once. Both of his hands were now cradling her face and Rey, quite unable to help herself, had reached one hand up to touch his long dark hair. After a moment she broke away from the kiss to catch her breath, but she held his face close to hers still, their mouths a small distance apart, inhaling and exhaling the same air.

Ben seemed to remember himself, and that same dangerous smile came over his face once more. Rey felt her stomach tighten. 

“The rest of the message from Poe.”

Rey felt ill. 

Before she even knew what she was doing she had pulled her hand back and slapped Ben right across the face.

_ Oh Christ. Oh my God. I’ve just slapped Benjamin Solo. _

Ben stepped back, giving her space, his hand on his jaw. “Thanks. I needed that,” he said, his tone unreadable.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have, oh you, you um, seem to have my handprint across your face.” Rey felt that her mortification for the evening was now complete. 

“Maybe it’s best if you collect your messages in person.” Ben said to her. “You can see Poe tomorrow. Goodnight,” and with that she watched as he bent down to pick up his champagne glass and walked out of the solarium.

***

Ben was on the phone the minute he stepped out of the solarium. “Hux, I’m going to stay out here for the next two days. Cancel whatever I've got and reschedule. Also, have the plane stand by for 9am tomorrow morning.” Ben thought for a moment. “And set up the vineyard cottage, flowers, candle, food. The works.”

“Sir, I’m not sure I know-“ Hux started to reply back.

“Call Poe’s assistant. It’s the only thing she ever does.”

“I imagine she’s probably not awake, sir” Ben looked down at his watch, it was one o’clock in the morning. “I don’t see why not? I’m up. You’re up.”

“I am now.” Hux told him. 

Ben rolled his eyes at his assistant. “Call her anyway.”

Ben walked back to the house and into his mother’s office. He poured himself another glass of whiskey and thought about what happened with Rey. 

He was so close, he’d almost had her. He’d smiled and danced and she had even put her head against his chest. She’d kissed him back. 

and he fucked it up by mentioning Poe. 

Ben brought his hand up, dragged it through his hair and sipped his drink . He’d panicked. Benjamin Fucking Solo kissed a girl and panicked. He’d gone in there with the intention of buying her off, but of course Rey was better than that. He’d already known she was but tried anyway, wanting this whole situation over and done with. 

And then she’d kissed him back and looked at him with those lonely eyes and it made him feel things he didn’t want to feel, things he didn’t have time for. 

_ Shit _ . 

None of it mattered now. Ben’s mind was made up and once he decided something was his, he couldn’t be swayed. He would seduce her as Poe would, with trips and attention. He would turn her eyes away from his foolish brother. Oh he’d pretend to be supportive, a champion of their forbidden love, but he’d show her that maybe he was as lonely as she was, that he could be the better choice, make her love him instead. At least until the ink dried on his merger. 

***

“Good morning, Mother.” 

Ben walked into his mother’s gym where she was on a stationary bike, trainer taking her through her morning exercises. “Did Snoke say anything after I left last night?”

“He wondered where everyone had gone.” Leia dismissed the man standing with her, looking over at Ben. “Maybe I should talk to Rey.” 

Ben was looking at his reflection in the mirror, he had tried to dress more casually today, forgoing his suit jacket in an attempt to seem less stuffy when Rey saw him. “And say what?” 

He decided he better lose the tie, he pulled it off from his neck and opened the top button of his collar as well. 

“Rey, you're very lovely but Poe has a short attention span and he’s just jerking your chain.”

Ben looked over at his mother, she had paused thinking for a moment. 

“Can I say that to a woman? Jerking your chain?”

Ben ignored the question. “When is Kaydel due back from California?”

“Thursday, should we try to get her back sooner?” 

“No,” Ben said, vehemence in his tone. “I don’t want Poe to try to break off the engagement. This all happened in 24 hours, I can make it unhappen in 48.” 

He started to leave the room, looking at his watch. He hoped Rey was on her way up to the house. He didn’t want to get behind schedule with the plane. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at his mother. 

“I like Rey, I always have, but I’m not about to lose a billion dollars, I don’t care what she did to her hair.” 

***

Rey stood outside the large house for a few moments, trying to find the nerve to go inside. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to face Ben again after last night, but she wanted to look in on Poe, sure he would be asking for her. 

Just then she heard the sound of the door opening and there stood Ben. 

“Good morning, Rey.” 

“Good morning.” Rey said with a touch of hesitation. 

“I’ll take you up to see Poe.” 

“Thank you” Rey exhaled with  a small sigh of relief.

Right before heading into Poe’s room Ben stopped her. “Just so you know, Poe has a terrible tolerance for pain. He’s on heavy medication to help him sleep through most of it.”

Rey was even more concerned now, she hadn’t realized he’d been so badly injured. She went to his room and found him sleeping on his stomach. “Poe?” She said his name quietly, kneeling down next to his bed and taking his hand. “Can he hear me?” She asked looking back at Ben. 

Ben leaned over, searching Poe’s face. “Poe!” he shouted, causing Rey to jump.

Poe startled as well, eyes opening and he looked at her. “Rey.” He smiled at her and Rey couldn’t help the smile that she gave back.

“Hello.” She said, and gently squeezed the hand she was holding.

“Hi” 

“Did the dry cleaners have your car?” He asked her. 

Rey stopped smiling and looked up at Ben confused. Ben gave her a small shrug whispering to her “it’s the medication .” 

“How do you feel, Poe?” Ben said, bringing his attention back to his brother. 

“I didn’t get there, did I?” Poe asked her instead of answering Ben’s question.

Rey felt something invisible grasp her heart.  _ No, you didn't,  _ she thought. Rey shook her head, pushing thoughts of last night aside. “Are you in a lot of pain?” 

“Am I in a lot of pain?” Poe repeated her question back to her, as though for a moment he was the one confused. “Look at your little hand.” She watched as Poe brought his face over to her hand and began to nibble on it. 

_ He’s completely out of it. _

He suddenly startled again, looking up at her face. “Guess what happened to me?” 

“I know.” She told him. “I feel awful.” 

“Me too.” Poe looked back at her seriously.

“How do you feel, Ben?” He asked him, smiling again as easily as before. 

“I feel fine, Poe.” 

“Do you want me to stay with you?” Rey asked Poe, wanting to stay in his company for as long as she could. 

Ben cut in at that moment. “Listen, Poe. We’ve gotten you a fantastic nurse and a two day supply of red jello.” 

“I love red jello!”

“I know, bud.” Ben leaned forward and rested his hand on Poe’s back for a moment and then looked at Rey. “He should rest.”

Rey knew he was right and Poe needed his sleep, but she still felt terrible having to leave him. “I’ll come back and see you tomorrow okay? Rest well.” 

Ben walked her back down to the foyer of the house.

“I’m sure he’ll be more responsive tomorrow.”

“Thank you for letting me see him.” Rey turned toward the door to leave when she heard Ben speak to her again. 

“You know I was wondering, we have this summer cottage in Martha’s Vineyard that we never use anymore. My mother wants to put it on the market. I was going to have a few pictures taken. You know the kind that makes it look bigger than it really is, and I understand from your father that you have an interest in photography. I thought you might like to take them.”

_ Ben wants me to photograph his cottage? On Martha’s Vineyard?  _

“The trip would be no trouble,” he continued, “the helicopter could pick us up here, the plane is over at Republic.” 

Rey almost laughed, it certainly sounded like no trouble at all when you had a helicopter and a private plane. 

“Is that a lot to ask?” He seemed unsure now, as if he didn’t expect her to accept. 

Rey had never been to Martha’s Vineyard before and the thought of being able to capture it with her camera, see another new world through her lens was all the answer she needed. 

“No, it's not a lot to ask.” 

***

Ben had surprised her by saying they could leave right away. Within a few moments she had grabbed her camera and they were whisked away by the helicopter to the hanger with his plane.  _ Things move quite a bit faster when you have money, _ she thought walking across the tarmac. 

“It saves all that time fighting traffic.” Ben said to her, almost defensively, as if he could read her thoughts and knew she thought his helicopter was slightly ridiculous. 

“And all those toll booths!” Rey said, laughing now in earnest at the thought of him having to scrounge around a cup holder for change. Had he ever even seen pocket change before? 

Rey stopped laughing when she stepped into the plane. The interior was all white. There were two large oversized chairs facing each other on one side, and a loveseat on the other. She just knew if she sat on that loveseat that it would prove to be more comfortable than the bed she had slept on her entire life. 

Ben threw his laptop bag on to the loveseat and then sat down in one of the chairs, already on another work phone call. The third since leaving the estate. 

She took the seat opposite him, buckling her seat belt and looking out the window. A second plane ride in just a couple of days. Admittedly, this was much preferable to the overcrowded commercial flight she had taken back from Paris. 

“Would you like a drink, Miss Fairchild?” Rey looked up to see an older man with a kind face and balding head looking down at her expectantly. 

“Oh. It’s Rey, please.” 

“Rey, I must say that is a lovely name-“ 

Ben cut the older man off from speaking. “Threepio.” 

“My apologies, Mr. Solo. May I get you a coffee?” 

“Pellegrino.” Ben replied and continued on his phone call. 

Threepio looked down at her again. “Same” she said, offering him a kind smile. 

“Hux, anything back from the lawyers at Connix? Tell him I’ll call him back as soon as I can.” 

For a moment she sat watching Ben finishing up his phone call. Of course everyone said he always worked, but seeing him now she knew it was true. 

“So” Ben turned his attention back to her. “That really is a beautiful name. How did you get it?” 

Rey thought about her dad, sitting at home in his living room, surrounded by hundreds of books and smiled. “My father’s reading. It’s in a poem.” 

Ben smiled back waiting for her to continue. She huffed a small sigh and said aloud the words her father had read to her so many times in her childhood.

“Reyna Fair, listen where thou are sitting under the glassy, cool, translucent waves, in twisted braids of lilies, the loose train of thy amber dropping hair.” 

“Amber dropping hair! Why that's most beautiful!” 

“Threepio.” Ben said again looking at the man.

“My apologies.” 

Ben turned his focus to his laptop.

She knew she should let him work, but they were on an adventure. She was going somewhere new on this incredible plane and she couldn’t believe he was just letting himself miss all of it. 

“Don’t you ever look out the window?” She asked him. 

“When I have time.” He said not bothering to look up. 

“What happened to all that time we saved taking the helicopter?” she tried teasing him. 

He looked up from his computer, grinning almost as if he was getting ready to tease her right back. “I’m saving it up.” 

She stared at him a moment, her smile slipping from her face. 

“No, you’re not,” she whispered. 

Ben’s face was once again expressionless for a moment as he stared back at her, and then he smiled again.  _ His mask.  _

“So you’re little poem, what does it mean?” 

“It’s the story of a water sprite who saved a virgin from a fate worse than death.”

Ben smirked. “Ah, and Rey’s the virgin?

She wanted to tell him she could still see him. 

“Rey’s the savior.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses on the song Rey and Ben danced to? A couple of hints, it’s not the song from the movie, is not one traditionally done by an orchestra and Hootie has an amazing live cover version.
> 
> Find me on Twitter:  
> @LaneReads


	5. THE COTTAGE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Don’t worry so much.” Before she could stop herself, she lifted her hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. “You forget,” she felt the steady rhythm beneath her hand and remembered how it felt to lay her head against it. “I’ve heard your heart beat, Ben. I know you’re a mere mortal like the rest of us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again so much to everyone who has read, commented, and left kudos! I don’t think there’s anyway to properly thank you all as much as I wish I could. 
> 
> As usual, huge special thanks to LyricalRiot on Ao3 (@little_womp_rat on twitter) for the best prompt ever, as well as agreeing to Beta for me.❤️ Thanks to Mrs. Darcy for being my biggest cheerleader. 
> 
> Tags have been updated this chapter to include age difference. Ben is in his 30s, Rey her early 20s. 
> 
> I don’t own these characters, I own grammatical mistakes. 
> 
> CW: Rey asked Ben if he’s depressed, but there is no further discussion regarding depression.

Rey wandered around the cottage camera in hand, room by room, taking photographs as she went. She’d almost laughed when Ben and she had first walked in, remembering his comment about photos making it look bigger than it really is. 

She was positive her entire apartment in Paris would fit in the sitting room.

“Is it always like this?” She peered over at him, roaming the rooms, never far from her. 

“Like what?”

They had moved into the kitchen now and she looked around the room. Bouquets of flowers were on every available surface. The table was laid out with pastries, cheeses, and different wines. Both whites and reds, every preference catered to. She felt a bit like she had just interrupted someone’s romantic getaway. 

“All the flowers and food. Is it always this way?” 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I haven’t been here in years,” Ben looked around the cottage as if he only just noticed the flowers were there. 

Rey was astonished. “How can you have a place like this and never come here?” she asked him. 

Ben seemed to consider her question for a moment and as he walked to the glass sliding door that led out to a deck. Rey could see the ocean beyond that. He leaned against the glass, his shoulders hunched a bit and his head dipped low. It made him look younger. 

_ And sad _ , Rey thought. 

“Gee, I don’t know.” He focused on her through the dark lashes of his downcast eyes. “Just never had anyone to share it with.” 

He stopped for a moment, almost embarrassed by his admission. “I guess,” he finished. 

“You could always hire somebody.” It slipped out before Rey could stop herself. 

_ Oh Christ. I’ve just told him to hire a prostitute. _

Still, he was extremely wealthy and now that she had noticed, she couldn’t pretend he wasn’t attractive. She imagined there was a figurative block that women were lined up around somewhere, hoping for a chance at a weekend here with him. 

He seemed incredulous for a moment, as if he too couldn’t believe what the hell she had just said, and then he let out a small chuckle. Relieved, Rey laughed as well and lifted her camera hoping to catch one of Ben’s rare smiles. 

He quickly held up his hand to block her view of him. “No, no wait, the house, not me.”

“You're in the house, Ben. It humanizes it.” Rey lifted the camera to try again. 

“I don’t like having my picture taken,” he grumbled. “I uh, come out looking depressed.”

“Are you depressed?” Rey watched his expression turn into a grimace. She wasn’t sure why she had asked, but she suddenly found herself wanting to know more about him and for whatever reason he obliged. 

“Maybe that’s not exactly the right word” he looked out the window then, as if turning away from her might protect him from her questions. 

“What is the right word?” she pressed. 

“Lonely, maybe.” He said it quietly, never taking his eyes off the ocean. 

She could hardly believe it. He was lonely. This notoriously unpleasant man, whom her father had only joked about this this morning, saying he would have sued Mrs. Organo-Solo for damages had it been him instead of Poe who sat on those champagnes glasses. He was here in his rarely used extra home and confessing to being all alone. It didn’t seem possible but she found herself wanting to wrap her arms around him, to hold him tight enough that he knew someone else was there with him and a small laugh escaped her. 

Ben glared back at her, obviously at least at little insulted she found humor in his loneliness. “You think that’s funny?

“No!” She said quickly, horrified she’d managed to upset him when he was being so honest with her. She didn’t think she should tell him she was laughing at herself for wanting to comfort him. “I just expected you to say something else.” She finished lamely. 

“No I suppose you're right.” He let out a laugh but there was no humor behind it, only bitterness. “It is funny. Ben Solo is lonely.” 

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Rey didn’t know what to say, worried she had already gone too far with her curiosity. 

“Oh I’m sorry.” The smile he gave her was small and apologetic. “I’ve made you uncomfortable. Come on, let's get some photos of the outside,” and with that he walked out onto the deck. 

Rey collected herself. She was here to take photographs of the cottage, nothing more. She stepped out into the sunshine with him. The cottage was perched up on an embankment, so they were looking down onto the bay where there were more cottages and the sandy coastline. 

Though it was sunny, it was breezy on the coast and she was grateful now Ben had recommended she bring along a cardigan. She peaked over at him standing by the ledge, he looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine, looking fit in his jumper, hair blowing in the wind. 

“Do you want a view from the house?” Rey asked him, already looking through her lens again. 

“Sure” he replied. 

“Which one?” She wanted to get his input in this process, it was his family’s cottage he was planning to sell after all. 

“Uh, all of them,” he gestured unhelpfully. 

_ Of course _ . 

“More isn’t always better, Ben. Sometimes it’s just more.” She watched as he brought his hand up and ruffled his hair. He’d done it a couple of times now and she wondered if he always did it when he was nervous or frustrated. Another tell. For someone supposedly so stoic she hoped for his sake he didn’t play poker. She lifted the leather camera strap up over her head and held it out for him to take. “Pick one.”

“Oh I don’t know anything about, I don’t think, um I can’t” he brought his hands out in front of him, backing up from her slowly. The universal gesture of “please don’t make me do this.”

“It’s okay, I promise,” she soothed, “just look, don’t press any buttons, just look.” 

He didn’t look entirely convinced but after a moment he took the camera from her hands and brought it up to look.

“Let’s see. Ocean, ocean, ocean...” 

_ Smart ass.  _

“...quaint little fishing village, ocean, ocean, lighthouse. A guy going into the lighthouse.” He paused then, lowering the camera for a moment. “There’s a job for you. What must that be like? What kind of a guy takes a job keeping a lighthouse?” He turned to her and Rey reached to take her camera back.

“Every time I look through a camera I’m surprised. It’s like finding yourself in the middle of a story.” She snapped several photos of Ben’s lighthouse. “Like you just did. What kind of a guy takes a job keeping a lighthouse?” Before he could stop her she turned and snapped a photo of him. “I think I’ve been taking pictures all of my life, long before I ever had a camera.”

***

Ben stood there watching Rey take photos of the bay and even a photo of him when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling the phone out, he looked at the screen. 

“Excuse me, Rey, I need to take this.” 

Ben walked back inside the house to the other side of the kitchen but kept an eye on the door to make sure Rey was still out on the deck. 

“Mother.” 

“Rebellion is playing hardball. They’ve raised their offer to Connix.” Leia said, straight to business as usual.

“We’ll raise the offer by half a point. No more.” 

“Fine.” She paused then. “How are things going on the Vineyard?” 

“Lousy.” Ben admitted. “So far I’m more affected than she is. I damn near cried twice. I’m running out of time here. I don’t know what else to try.” 

“I don’t think Rey has ever been there before so I’m sure lunch in the village would be lovely.” 

“Yes, I’m sure.” Ben hung up the phone and went back outside to find Rey. 

“I’m all finished. This really is such a beautiful place.” She admired the scenery all around her just like she had the plane. Ben smiled at her. Her excitement was refreshing.

“Well, we’ll have some lunch and then you probably ought to get a look at the island while you’re here. I wouldn’t want you to miss anything.” 

***

“Please?” 

“No”

But, Ben! They’re perfect, it’ll be so much fun.” 

Ben gazed into her pleading eyes, wondering briefly when he’d come to enjoy the color hazel so much. He almost gave in. He looked down at the bicycles, ones rented to tourists so they could roam around the streets of the town, slowing down traffic with their little bells and bright baskets. He held his ground. 

“Rey, look at me. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m a rather tall man.”

She looked up to the top of his head and then slowly brought her eyes down over him before bringing them back up to his face. Her cheeks held a faint blush. He was sure his face was the same. 

“Yes, I did notice.” She cleared her throat and then suddenly tipped her head laughing at some private joke. “Okay, now I’m picturing it. None of these look quite your size.” 

“Not likely.” 

They continued walking down the sidewalk in the village, Rey stopped every few feet to lift her camera when something caught her eye. 

“Do you miss Paris?” he asked her. 

“Not yet, but I will.” She sounded so sure of her feelings. Ben admired it, even envied it a little. Oh sure, he’d always been quite certain of himself as well, but Rey didn’t seem to mind that she didn’t control them. She wasn’t sad now, but she would be later and that was fine. 

_ Like Poe. _

“You liked it there, huh?” Ben was back to work now, feeling her out, wondering if she would be willing to run away to Paris again sooner rather than later. His thoughts of Poe only added to his sense of urgency with the merger looming. 

“I loved it.” She looked over to him, assessing him. “You'd probably hate it.

Ben acted hurt by the affront. Ben was adaptable, maybe he would love Paris if she gave him the chance. “What? Why?”

“Well it’s all about pleasure, Ben. They work as hard as anyone, they just know when to quit and enjoy themselves.” She raised her eyebrows up at him, as if to say “you would never “ before focusing back on her camera. 

He smirked at her, “I’ll show you ple-“

“Oh! What a beautiful building!” Ben’s rather ridiculous attempt at being suave was interrupted by Rey’s delight. 

“Nobody builds with brick anymore. It’s just lovely.” 

“It’s late 1800s” he told her and he watched as she started moving closer, snapping photo after photo of the brick monstrosity he was very familiar with. He wondered at this ability of hers to find beauty in such mundane things. It was just a building. 

“You know in Paris they’d consider that brand new.” She turned and a sad look came over her face. “I hope they don’t tear it down.”

_ Check. _

“They won’t, I own it. I own that whole block.” His smile faltered when he looked down at her, her eyes staring back in shock and he wondered if his admission was a mistake. He hoped he’d make her happy by letting her know her brick building was in safe hands, but maybe it just made him sound like an ass. Ben was determined to win some degree of affection from her, mind racing before he casually added “I donated it to the village as a foster home for children.” 

The look of shock on her face softened “why?” 

“Well, nobody likes to be bothered with orphaned children. Especially rich people” he said it in a self deprecating way, aware of his own circumstances, “It's really just the luck of the draw you know, I was lucky to be born into wealth and privilege and even you, your circumstances might be different then mine but you had a father to love you and a comfortable home.” He reached over and held her hand, squeezing it for a moment. “Those children don’t have parents to read them poems every night. I hope having a place with a caring staff, someone to help them find happy families does some good.” 

He watched the smile return to her eyes, felt her move slightly closer to him as he was speaking. “And I think it’s always nice for children to be near the ocean, what kid doesn’t love playing in the waves?”

He gave her a small smile, almost shy. She squeezed his hand back. 

_ Checkmate _ . 

Ben and Rey were now in front of the local bakery and another couple had also stopped and were admiring the window display of various cakes. 

“Excuse me,” he asked them, “do you think you could take a picture for us?” He could feel Rey’s eyes on him as the couple smiled and happily agreed to help. Rey took a quick moment to show one of them which button to push on her camera and she walked back to stand next to Ben. Without looking at her he brought his arm up and slid it around her shoulders, as if they were just another couple strolling along and wanted a keepsake of their time here together. He thanked them as Rey took her camera back and looked at the bakery display. 

He hadn’t paid much attention to Rey over the years, too focused on school and work to care about anything else, but it was impossible to count the number of times he’d found her happily eating whatever fresh sweet she’d just heisted from the kitchens. 

He nodded his head in the direction of the bakery door. “Would you like to go in?” 

Her answering smile was radiant. 

***

“Are you done?” 

Rey didn’t believe it herself, not so easily defeated by food, but she really was. “I don’t think I can eat anymore.” She gestured to the few baked clams left over on their shared platter, indicating he was free to help himself. 

It was dark now, Ben had made them dinner, insisting it was a thank you for her taking the photographs. She’d teased him, asked if he even knew what a stove was but he’d replied that his mother did actually make sure they were well rounded enough to take care of themselves. Stock markets were fickle after all. 

She’d watched as he made the clams and the linguini with wine sauce and chopped up a salad. She’d tried to help, offered to set the table but he’d smiled and asked her to grab the basket in the pantry instead. He’d packed up everything, handed her a bottle of wine and a blanket to carry and led her down a little hidden path to a sandy beach. 

There was a fire pit in the sand and Rey laid down the blanket and started arranging their plates while Ben started the fire for additional heat and light. Even with the fire she couldn’t help the little shiver that came over her and Ben, gallant as ever, had offered her his sweater. 

She leaned back against one of the logs that were arranged around the fire, and sipped her wine listening to the waves. 

Ben pushed the platter a little closer to her. “Are you sure? It’s too late to give them their freedom” he joked. 

There he was, laughing again. A real laugh. She had a moment when she thought to herself she should count them, as surely it was a record. But between them both shoving enormous cupcakes into their mouths in one go at the bakery earlier and watching him make dinner, she’d lost count. 

“You know you’re not exactly what people say you are” she angled herself to look at him. He was sitting on the blanket next to her, face illuminated in the firelight. He sipped his glass of wine, staring back at her. 

“Oh yea, what do they say I am?” 

_ Shit _ . _ Bad idea.  _

He knew, of course he had to. “Oh you know” she tried, hoping he would just drop it. 

“No, I don't.” He smirked, no doubt sensing her discomfort now, he would give her no quarter. 

Well, if that’s how he wanted to play, then she wouldn’t be intimidated. “That you’re the world’s only living heart donor.” 

His smirk fell. “Oh.” He swallowed. “That.” 

She rolled her eyes now. Men would give their left kidney to have this man’s life. She wasn’t about to let him go and feel sorry for himself now. 

“Oh, and how’s this one go?” she pretended to really think hard, tapping her chin. “Oh yes, he thinks that morals are paintings on walls and scruples are money in Russia.” She giggled. 

He huffed. Clearly she was now enjoying their game more than he was. “Well that’s droll.” 

“And then there’s my favorite –“

Ben cut her off “No it’s okay, I get the picture.”

“I’m sure you know what money is in every language” she teased, but saw that his eyes were guarded once more. 

“Don’t worry so much.” Before she could stop herself, she lifted her hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. “You forget,” she felt the steady rhythm beneath her hand and remembered how it felt to lay her head against it. “I’ve heard your heart beat, Ben. I know you’re a mere mortal like the rest of us.” 

He never looked away from her as he brought his hand up to cover hers. Both of them sat there, wrapped up in the soft heat of the fire and each other. After a moment he slowly closed his hand around hers, lifted it from his chest, and brought it up to his mouth. He hesitated only for a moment before he kissed the center of her palm. She knew it was just as much of a thank you as making her dinner was. For not believing the worst in him like everyone else did. For reminding him that he was, in fact, human. 

Overwhelmed Rey took her hand back and asked him “Do you remember the rainy afternoon we spent together?”

His expression became curious, she could tell he was trying to remember but couldn’t. “No.”

“My father had driven your mother and Poe into town for some lecture.” 

“Huh, a lecture? How old was he?” 

“I don’t know,” Rey tried to remember. “I was 10 or so, maybe 14 or 15.” 

Ben grinned and Rey’s heart almost stopped. 

“Reclaiming Female Sexuality.” 

“I beg your pardon?” Rey wasn’t sure she heard him quite right. 

“Poe heard my mother discussing a lecture she was planning to attend. Reclaiming Female Sexuality. He insisted on going with her.” He laughed again, the memory clearly a funny one for him. “I’m sure I know as a 15 year old boy what he thought it was about, but Leia took a great amount of joy in not revealing until they were there that it was about menopause and sex. He didn’t speak to her for a week.” 

She laughed as well at that, able to picture poor Poe in a sea of women aged 50 plus telling him what a nice young man he was for attending with his mother. 

“It was a rainy afternoon, huh?” Ben prompted, asking her to continue with her story. 

She watched the fire for a moment. “It was stormy. I was afraid and I came into your house and tried to turn on a lamp but I got a shock. I thought I had been struck by lightning. You were there, back home after Harvard, and you stayed with me. All afternoon until my father came home.”

“And you didn’t cry,” he remembered now. “You were a brave kid.”

“No.” She turned to him once more. “I was more afraid of you than being electrocuted. Everybody was.”

A thought suddenly occurred to her. “Is that the reason you never married?” He was in his thirties and while it wasn’t completely unusual for a man his age to be a bachelor, she’d never heard a word about him even dating, let alone considering marriage. I guess who has time for that when you are too busy conquering the business world. “You probably don’t believe in marriage anyway.” 

“Yes I do.” He said, harsh and a little hurt. He stopped and looked at her, his face softening once more. “That’s why I never got married.” 

She thought about that for a moment, what his experience with women must be like. His parents were extraordinarily happy but Poe until recently was always with a new woman. She was sure over the years many women had fancied themselves to be the future Mrs. Benjamin Solo, but how could he know which ones would ever really love him for him? She thought back to his words earlier in the day at the cottage, when she’d made the mistake of laughing at him. She didn’t feel like laughing now. 

“You’re not alone, Ben.” 

His eyes searched her face. “Neither are you.” 

He turned away suddenly, taking another sip of his wine. “Poe on the other hand believes in the tooth fairy.” 

Rey wrapped an arm around herself, snuggling further into his sweater and sipping her wine as well. “That’s why I like him,” she said.

It was Ben’s turn to roll his eyes. “I like him too, as a matter of fact, I love him. I just don’t know what to do with him.” Frustration bled into his voice. “You know when he was a kid he used to love to come to the office. He’d sit behind my mother's desk and write memos and pretend to read through the reports. One day he just stopped and I don’t…”

He paused suddenly. “Are those really the only things people say about me?” 

***

“It was a nice day,” 

They had made the trek back home and now stood in front of the garage ready to say goodnight. 

“You were a little tough on me” Ben admitted to her and Rey knew she had been. 

“I guess you’re used to being treated very carefully.” she teased. 

He changed the subject, something he was apparently very good at she’d noticed. “When will your photos be ready?”

“Tomorrow. I should be able to email them over if that's okay?” 

“No” he almost shouted, startling Rey, “I mean, can you bring them over to me at the office? I’m not good at this and I’d rather have you go through them with me.” 

“Okay, sure” Rey agreed. 

Ben smiled, and then seemed to think about something for a moment before he leaned in and kissed her cheek.

“Goodnight, Reyna Fair.” 

She knew she needed to go inside, she was exhausted and the last two days had felt like the longest of her life. But she was trapped by Ben’s gaze. 

He moved closer to her, eyes never leaving hers. For the second night in a row he was close enough to fill up all of her senses. She should say goodnight, she should go up the stairs. Her legs didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Neither did her heart. 

“Kiss me.” He said it softly and her breath hitched. His hand came up, tucking her hair behind her ear but stayed there, resting, waiting for her permission this time. “Kiss me and want it to be me, no one else.” 

She couldn’t take her eyes off his mouth. She brought her hand up slowly, and brushed her fingertips along his lower lip. She’d just wanted to touch them for a moment, feel how soft and full they were, but Ben opened his mouth and used his teeth to gently bite the tip of her finger, before she felt the soft lick of his tongue. Rey surged forward, her mouth meeting his and grabbed his hair to deepen the kiss.

“Ahem.” 

Rey would have jumped a foot into the air if Ben’s hands hadn’t tightened around her, grounding her as he turned and looked at his father. 

Mr. Solo had obviously stumbled upon them on his way back to the house after spending the evening drinking with her father. 

“Hello, Rey.” 

She backed up out of Ben’s arms, trying to pull together a semblance of decency. 

“Who won?” she asked, distracting him from what he’d just seen. She knew he would have been up playing chess with her father, a years old tradition of him thoroughly trouncing Mr. Solo, and Rey was anxious to steer the conversation to anywhere else. 

“Chewie, of course.” He cursed. “I know he cheats.” He held up his pointer finger as if to angrily emphasize his point but then stopped and looked at them for a moment. Rey blushed under the scrutiny. Even Ben looked a bit red having been caught kissing a girl by his father. 

“Well I’ll leave you two kids to say goodnight” Mr. Solo winked. “It’s getting late and I want to check in on your brother before bed. Good night.” 

_ Oh god. Poe.  _

Rey felt her stomach tighten. Here she was kissing Ben when Poe was lying injured in his room. What was she doing?

_ What if he had asked for me? _

Sensing her mood had shifted, Ben turned to her leaving plenty of distance between them. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

He began to walk down the path leading home when she called out to him.

“Ben?” He turned back. 

“My father once asked Poe why he stopped coming to the office and Poe said to him what do they need me for? Ben is there.” 

He pulled his shoulders up, his face severe. Ah there he was again. Benjamin Organa Solo. No smiling, no kisses. 

“Listen, I do real work in the real world. Poe watches from the North Shore.”

Rey sighed. Maybe she should have left it alone, but she knew after today that there was so much more to Ben than this. 

“I know you work in the real world and you’re awfully good at it. I bet you haven’t made a wrong move since you were three. But that’s work.” She wanted him to know there was more to him too. “Where do you live, Ben?”

***

Rey walked into the little apartment above the garage that she and her father had lived in most of her life. He was there in his chair, book in hand as usual. 

“I heard you won again.” 

He smiled up at her “Where were you, in town?”

“On Martha’s Vineyard. Ben wanted me to take some pictures.” She hoped the words didn’t sound as ridiculous to him as she felt saying them. 

“Ben did?” He asked, clearly cautious about such a development but still smiling softly at her. Almost teasing as if he could sense her embarrassment. 

She hadn’t spent enough time with him since being back. She took him in, the same chair, the same old books. “I love so many things about you, Dad, but do you know what I love best of all?” Her father shook his head, waiting for her to answer. “That you decided to become a chauffeur because you wanted time to read. All my life I’ve pictured you in the front seat of the Rolls in a long procession of cars, waiting for Organa-Solos and reading.” She walked over to him and bent down to kiss his cheek. 

“We had baked clams. Ben baked them.” she told her father. She shook her head, remembering him chopping up vegetables with a kitchen towel thrown over his shoulder. Just like anyone else. “I used to be so afraid of him.”

“It’s appropriate.” her father raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “Most people are.”

“What was he like as a child?” she couldn’t help but ask him. 

“Shorter.” 

***

“Quarterly reports from publishing will be online at 4:00, International wants a telephone conference at 5:15..”

Hux was briefing him on his afternoon as he always did after his lunch hour but for the first time that he could remember, he wasn’t listening to him. He was at his desk, chair facing away from his redheaded PA and thinking about Rey. 

“Hux, you know that old brick building we own at the vineyard?” Ben interrupted him. 

“Yes, Sir.” 

Ben paused, swinging his chair over to look at Hux. “Have you ever heard me referred to as the world’s only living heart donor?” 

Hux burst out laughing. It took a full minute for him to pull himself together and clear his throat. “Sorry, Sir.”

Ben ignored him. “Have legal find out if there’s any tax advantages to donating it to the town.” 

“And if there isn’t?”

“Then forget it.” Ben wasn’t even sure why he was wasting his time with this to begin with. It was just business. He’d never felt guilty about business. Not until her. 

Hux had started to make his way out of the office when Ben stopped him. “I want two tickets tonight to whatever broadway show nobody can get tickets for. And a table at the Carlyle for drinks.”

Rey would enjoy seeing a show and it would keep her away from the house. And Poe. 

“For whom?” Hux asked, clearly expecting that Ben was wining and dining some potential new business client as usual. 

Ben had turned back to his computer, determined to try to get some work done before Rey brought over the cottage photos. 

“For me.” He eyed Hux, who had gone still and looked at him as though he was worried Ben might be ill. 

“I know, I seldom go to the theater.”

“Seldom?” His PA shot back. 

“Hux, stop being a pain in the ass.” He turned away from him once more. 

“Ben, the most difficult tickets will be for a broadway musical.” He could count on one hand how many times Hux had used his first name and he’d worked for Ben for nine years. “That means that the actors periodically will dance about and burst into song.”

_ Great.  _

“Just get them, Hux. Please.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Ben watched as Hux once again started for the door and unable to help himself, he called out to him again. 

_ What the fuck am I doing? _

“Hux, forget the thing about the tax advantages. Tell legal I want that building donated to the town.” He let out a long breath. 

“And I want it used as a foster home.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahem. Next chapter. No more interruptions. I promise. (Well okay there probably will still some 😙)
> 
> In case you were curious, Rey and Ben danced to “I hope that I don’t fall in love with you” by Tom Waits
> 
> Find me on Twitter:  
> Lane_Reads_Reylo  
> @LaneReads


	6. THE CHOICE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can get for you? Cafe au lait? Snails? French fries?” 
> 
> Rey laughed and he felt a tension let go in his shoulders he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. 
> 
> “Theater tickets?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sure by now you realize I’ve pledged my eternal devotion and thanks to LyricalRiot (@Little_womp_rat on Twitter) for the prompt, encouragement, and for just being the best Beta a girl could ask for. 
> 
> Thank you also to all of you who are reading, leaving kudos or comments. This is my first story so please don’t be afraid to leave a comment if you’re enjoying it, I cherish every single one. 
> 
> Ahem. Please take note that the rating on this fic has been bumped up to Explicit. 
> 
> I really thought we’d be hitting the actual good stuff this chapter but it ended up so long I’ve split it in half. The bad news? They still get interrupted 🙈 Good news? The next chapter is done and will be up later tonight. And then we’re earning that new ratings, folks. 
> 
> I don’t own these characters, just the grammatical errors and the sorry google translation French. 
> 
> CW: Poe returns this chapter which means so do conversations around infidelity.

Two hours later Ben was still more distracted than he cared to be when Hux came over his phone. “Rey Fairchild.” 

Ben stood and brought his hands up to straighten his shirt and suit jacket, running his hands through his hair once before crossing to open his office door. Rey stood there, hair curlier than he’d seen since she’d been home and wearing an oversized sweater with black leggings. He wondered if maybe she’d taken the extra time to style her hair to come see him and it pleased him in a way he wasn’t ready to think about. 

“Come in,” Ben held the door for her. “Please make yourself comfortable.”

Rey walked around the space, eyes wide as she took in the city view provided by his floor to ceiling windows. “This is amazing.” Ben couldn’t remember the last time he stood there like she did, looking down on the people below and admiring the sight. 

“This is where I do that real work in the real world,” Ben couldn’t help but quip, “instead of living.” 

Rey grimaced slightly. “Oh. You remembered.” 

“It doesn’t come up everyday, someone telling you you’re not enjoying your life.” Ben sat on one of the chairs usually reserved for office guests, he winked at her so she would know he was just teasing and gestured for her to sit in the one next to him. “Please sit.”

She crossed the office floor back to him, removing a tablet from the bag he hadn’t noticed she was carrying. She took a moment, Ben assumed, to pull up the photographs. She handed it over to him and then sat in the other chair. She slipped off her little slipper shoes and then curled her feet up beneath her. She really was a small thing. He’d always felt oversized everywhere he went, in any chair he sat in. His legs were always too long, his back always to talk. She looked like the chair would swallow her whole, like the too big sweater she was currently curled up in. 

_ Fuck _ .

_ She’s wearing my sweater.  _

Ben couldn’t help the way his chest swelled with the knowledge that she wore his clothing, and not because it was cold and he offered, but because she obviously wanted to. He told himself it just meant that everything was going exactly according to plan, nothing more. 

“Would you like some coffee?” Ben offered, clearing his throat and distracting himself from her chosen outfit. 

“No, I’m okay, thank you.” Rey peaked around his office again, curiosity obviously getting the better of her. “Is everything in your life this big?”

_ Jesus _ . 

Ben ignored her question in favor of looking through some of the photographs. There was a photo of people gathered, singing and proudly waving French flags, and another of a couple holding hands on a bridge, smiling at each other the way lovers do. Her talent was obvious. “Some of these are very good.”

“Of course they are, I took them.” Rey grinned. “Don’t be so surprised. 

“I’m not.” Ben looked over at her again, she was confident and proud of herself. He’d seen her the same way when she was photographing the cottage.

Ben focused back on the tablet once more, then picked it up so Rey could see the photo of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis currently on the screen. “This is an unusual view of the house.”

Confusion came over her face and then she giggled. “Well, you did say you wanted it to look bigger.” She stood, leaning over him to sort out the albums “Sorry I was going through them with my dad earlier, I must have left the wrong photos open.”. She paused before swiping away the picture. “You’ve got to admit, it is beautiful.” she sighed. 

Ben huffed at her. “You probably wouldn’t let me if I tried.”

“Oh ha ha.” Rey joked back, but she wasn’t really paying attention to Ben now. She had focused all of her attention on the photograph of the cathedral again. 

“I found myself in Paris.” Rey whispered. “A friend of mine said that.” 

“Were you missing?” He asked her. 

“Yes.” Rey looked at him. “I was.” 

Ben had always known exactly what he was going to do with his life. He’d never once felt lost, until possibly right now, with Rey looking at him like this. 

_ Get it together, Solo. _

“I once was lost but now am found.” Ben recited the famous lyrics back at her, amusement in his tone as he smirked up at her. 

She cocked her hip, but grinned. “I’m sorry, are you making fun of me?” 

“It's my turn.” Ben started browsing the photographs of the house she’d pulled up and thought he might get one of the ocean views framed for Leia as a gift. The photos really were amazing and some good should actually come of the pictures. His mother would never dream of selling the place. He stopped when he came to the next photograph. It was the one she’d snuck. Him on the deck, a soft smile on his face and wearing the the sweater she currently has on.

“You’re very photogenic” she beamed at him. 

Ben had never thought so but he took her compliment. “It's because I’m handsome,” he deadpanned. 

Rey wouldn’t let him have it. “No, that’s not it.” 

_ Not as handsome as him.  _

Ben was used to it. Women had always preferred Poe’s easy smiles and even easier personality. It had never bothered him before. Ben was too busy to be bothered and Poe was an asshat. He couldn’t stop himself as he looked back at the tablet from saying it anyway. “But not as handsome as Poe.”

Rey pressed one hand to her chest, fluttering her eyes for dramatic affect. “No one is as handsome as Poe,” she sighed. “Not even Poe.” 

Ben wasn’t bothered by her declaration. He wasn’t. 

“Don’t tell him that until his fully recovered.” Ben joked. He needed to change the subject again, turn her attention back to him and what he could offer her. 

He handed her tablet back to her, the pretense of looking at her photographs gone for now. “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can get for you? Cafe au lait? Snails? French fries?” 

Rey laughed and he felt a tension let go in his shoulders he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. 

“Theater tickets?” He continued and she showed her surprise on her face. “Theater tickets?” 

Ben shrugged at her, attempting to sound casual. “Thought I’d take my first step towards all that French stuff you seem to love. The good life, knowing when to quit and such.” 

Rey stood there and didn’t say anything. It made Ben uncomfortable. He wasn’t used to asking a question he didn’t already know the answer to and it was becoming a common occurrence with her. “Maybe it’s a bad idea.” 

She grinned suddenly, and he could see the mischief in it. “You know, I think I have a better idea. If you don’t mind?” Ben thought at that moment he just might follow her anywhere. 

***

Rey watched as Ben tried his best and somewhat failed to look comfortable sitting across from her on the small mass of colorful pillows. She wondered when the last time he sat on the floor was, or if he ever had, even as a child. 

The waiter set their tagine down on the table, with separate bowls of couscous placed in front of each of them. She nibbled on an olive as she watched Ben take in the restaurant. “This was my favorite food when I was in France.” She wanted him to understand the warmth she felt, the comfort she got from the familiar foods. “There’s this little place in Pigalle. I ate there twice a week at least.”

Ben, ever the gentleman, filled their plates and had just reached for his fork when she stopped him. “It’s really so much better if you eat with your hands.” 

She has already taken the time to roll up all the extra fabric of her sleeves to make sure and not get any food on Ben’s sweater. He’d given her an amused smile as he watched but didn’t say anything. She knew she probably shouldn't have worn it again, just brought it back to him, but it was so soft and it smelled like Ben. 

She showed him, picking up some of the vegetables with the thumb and first two fingers of her right hand before bringing them to her mouth. “Do you mind?” 

Ben didn’t look entirely convinced but didn’t argue with her. “No, not at all.” He picked up his couscous, and immediately dropped it. “Ow” he hissed out. “Not since I made that contribution to the NYU burn unit.” His mouth lifted to one side. 

Rey felt her laugh die in her throat as he brought his burnt finger up to his mouth and watched his lips wrap around in. She couldn’t stop staring and thinking about the way his lips had felt under her finger tips the night before, the way his mouth felt against hers.

Rey reached for her ice water, suddenly feeling very hot. 

“So, tell me more about Paris.”

Rey didn't need much encouragement to tell him about her time there. She talked about vogue and her disastrous first day, able to laugh at the embarrassment now. She went on about Phasma and how she helped her realize it was okay to be alone and shared all her stories about DJ, Finn and Rose. Some made her laugh out loud, others made her throat catch a little, missing her dear friends. Finally, she told him about learning to take photographs, and learning to find herself. 

“I used to walk everywhere in Paris. I used to walk from Montmartre to the center of town along the Seine. There’s a walk just over three kilometers that goes from Saint Germain to the Pont d’Austerlitz, it takes you past all the bridges of Paris.” Rey paused, lost in the memory for a moment.”You find one you love and you go there every day with your coffee and your journal and listen to the river.” 

“What does it tell you?” Ben asked her.

“That’s between you and the river.” Ben seemed enraptured by her story, dinner long finished and Rey was almost embarrassed they'd spent the whole of the evening talking about her. 

“It’s funny, listening to you talk, it makes me wonder.” He didn’t finish the thought, he just stopped and looked down at his empty plate. 

“What?” Rey sipped her glass of wine, wanting him to go on. Wanting to know what he wondered. 

“I don’t know. Something’s different. I feel different. At work i don’t.” He paused again, taking a deep breath.“I love the action but sometimes I wonder, especially lately.” His eyes softened looking at her. “I’ve been wondering what it would be like to spend some time in a place like that. And not just for a few days, but for a real change.” 

Ben let out a startled laugh, as if he’d just surprised himself. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I just didn’t know it until now.” 

Rey can’t believe what he’s saying. He wanted to go and find himself like she did in Paris. Would he up and leave the Ogana Corporation? 

_ Would he go with me? _

She can’t stop the dangerous thought from entering her mind. 

“What exactly are you saying, Ben?”

“I’m not sure. I do what my mother does. She does what her father did. My whole life I’ve never.” He let out a frustrated huff, hand back up in his hair. “I never chose.” 

“You’re not really thinking about Paris?” She blurted out, unsure what she wanted his answer to be. 

“No,” he shook his head, as if it was obviously a joke. One of those things people always talked about but never did. “No, you’re right. Of course I’m not. How could I be?” He brought his hand up, signaling to the waiter to bring the check. “I suppose I’m a lost cause at this point.” 

“I don’t like to think of anyone as a lost cause.” Rey thought about how she had spent her whole life dreaming of the unattainable, hopelessly in love with Poe. 

_ Poe _ . 

“Oh my God, what time is it?” Rey couldn’t believe she’d forgotten about Poe. She searched around, trying to find for her phone to check the time. 

Ben appeared startled at her sudden worry and looked at his watch. “It’s 9:45.” 

“Oh no. I told the nurse to tell Poe I’d see him tonight.” Rey bit her lip. She had enjoyed her dinner with Ben very much. Probably too much and now she was very late. 

“He’s probably sleeping, Rey.” 

She couldn’t stop the disappointment from showing on her face. She knew she needed to take a minute to sort out what she was feeling. For Poe, for Ben. 

“It’s okay, we can go” Ben stood. 

“No, you’re right. You are, we don’t have to” Rey hated this. She’d spent the last two years knowing and doing exactly what she’d wanted and now she’d been home for two days and she felt like an emotional mess. She couldn’t seem to make up her mind. 

Stay or leave? Poe or Ben? 

“Come on. Let’s go. We can walk a little, like Paris right?” He gave her a real smile, and the dimple in his cheek was enough to convince her to say yes. 

Rey and Ben walked along the city street, still just as busy as it had been in the afternoon. “Was there anything you didn’t like about Paris? I only ask because you seem to love it so much.” 

Rey thought about his question. She thought about how she would sometimes see a dress in a window that she could never afford or the amazing views from some of the ridiculously priced lofts she saw on her walks. “How expensive everything is, I guess.” 

Ben considered this for a moment. “Well. I’d have to learn how to say ‘I’m just looking’.” It’s ridiculous to think of this man, with more money than God, feeling pressured into a pricey purchase. She laughed at the thought. 

“Je regarde juste.” Ben seemed delighted at this new game and continued. 

“How do you say ‘this is what I want’?” 

“C'est ce que je veux.” She repeated back for him. 

He stopped her then, taking her hand in his. Those intense eyes focused back on hers and his voice soft. “How do you say, ‘I’m looking at what I want’?”

_ Je regarde ce que je veux. _

Rey quickly turned back to their walk. “I don’t remember.” She kept walking, her heart racing at his words. She didn’t let go of his hand. 

***

They both sat in Ben’s car parked in the driveway at the estate. Once again, they had reached the part of the evening where it was time to say goodnight, but neither one of them had made a move to leave. 

“Ben, what's happening?” Rey whispered to him, afraid to voice her question too loud. The quiet felt like it was pressing down on her and Rey’s chest was heavy with it. She peaked a glance over at him still sitting silently in his seat, not looking at her. She reached for the car handle. “Thank you for -“ 

She’s interrupted by Ben bringing a hand up behind her neck and pulling her close to him. “Rey.” His voice sounded ragged. Like a prayer, or maybe like a curse.

She noticed him out of the corner of her eye, he walked slowly but steadily towards the car with the assistance of a walking cane.

She jumped back from Ben, quickly up and out of the car before Poe could see how close they had been. Ben sat there stunned for a moment before he noticed Poe as well and collected himself. 

“Hi!” Poe grinned at her, as if he couldn’t be any happier to see her. 

“Poe, how are you feeling?” Rey wasn’t sure he should be up and about, even with assistance of the cane. 

“I feel great, just felt like getting out of bed for a while.” He looked over at Ben who had joined them now. “Hux said you went to the theater,” he picked his cane up, playfully poking Ben in the chest, “but I told him there was no way that was true because you’d never willingly take in a show.” 

Ben’s humor from the evening was long gone. “Just dinner,” Ben answered.

“Morrocan. Ben ate dinner on the floor with me.” She felt the need to defend him although she wasn’t sure why. She knew he didn’t pretend to be pleasant for anyone but she thought about how easily she had told him he wouldn’t enjoy Paris when they’d walked together in Martha’s Vineyard. Did everyone do that to him? Did he just not bother anymore, content to prove them all right with his misery? She thought about how he had tried so hard for her, eating with his fingers and sitting on pillows. 

“What’s the word from Dr. Kalonia?” Ben was back to business now. 

“I’m healing fast,” Poe told him. “I just can’t eat dinner on the floor yet.” He winked at Rey. 

Rey could tell that Ben was annoyed. His face gave nothing away but she’d spent the last two days studying it, unable to stop thinking about it. She could see the tension around his mouth, the almost imperceivable narrow of his eyes. “Well, I’ll say goodnight.” He glanced at her before he turned away from them. “Dinner was great, thanks.” 

She watched as Poe squinted at his brother, even hazy from the medication, she thought maybe Poe could read him as well. “Are you going back to the city tonight?” Poe asked. 

“No, it’s late. I think I’ll sleep out here.” Ben didn’t even bother to turn around when he'd said the words, just kept walking back toward the house. 

Poe watched him go for a moment and then turned his attention back to her. “So, you. I’ve been thinking about you.” She thought about all the times she would have given anything for that lopsided grin to be directed at her. 

“Have you? What have you been thinking?” 

“I think we never had that drink in the solarium.” She didn’t miss the look in his eyes, the meaning behind them. She didn’t flush with pleasure, or feel the heat rise in her cheeks this time. Now she just felt cold. 

“No, we never did. You sent Ben.” Rey could feel the ache in her heart, the devastation she’d felt when she’d heard those champagne glasses and Poe wasn’t there. 

His smile faltered for a moment. “Oh. Yes.”

Rey couldn’t stop herself from thinking about Ben. Dancing with him, flying with him, watching him make her clams for dinner. Poe was everything she ever wanted but now all could see was Ben. He was so open with her. It was like he’d cracked the door open a bit to show his real self to her and she just wanted to push it wide open, run through it if he’d let her.

And Poe, she looked at him for a moment. Poe was engaged. 

“Poe, what’s going to happen?” The little girl inside her, who’d spent every waking moment obsessed with this man for as long as she could remember screamed at her to just please stop talking. 

“Well, I could scare us up some champagne, a couple of Dixie cups. I’m through with glasses.” His smile was truly heart stopping. “We could hobble down to the solarium and pick right back up where we left off.”

_ Stop asking him questions. He wants you.  _

“No, I meant after that.” Rey ignored the voice inside her head. She wanted to know, wanted to see if he would say it. 

Poe’s grin was almost lecherous but he somehow still managed to look at her with wide innocent eyes, ever the gentleman in the face of such delicate conversation. “Well shucks, Rey,” he dipped his head down, a shy, boyish gesture that women seemed to love. She knew she'd watched him do it so many times. “Whatever. I don’t know.” 

Even now when they both knew exactly what would have happened the night of the party if he hadn’t been injured, and both knowing what he suggested now, he couldn’t say it. It’s easier to ignore infidelity when you don’t talk about it. She’d been so blinded by him that she’d allowed herself to become this person. And god, it hurt. 

“Don’t you?” Rey whispered. 

“No, not exactly.” He looked at her now, confused, the confidence of his proposal fading. “Is that so bad?” 

Yes, she wanted to tell him but she couldn't think with him looking at her like that. Poe walked closer to her, took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. 

“We can talk about that all later can’t we?” he asked, his smile returning, sure as ever that everything would work out in time if he just ignored it long enough. How very Poe. She couldn’t help the smile she gave him. 

“Yes, but tomorrow. I really think you should rest now.” 

“Okay” he whispered, “as my lady commands.” Poe lifted their entwined hands to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand. “I’ll go to bed.” 

She’d tell him tomorrow. About how her feelings had changed.

She’d tell him about Ben. 

***

From across the grounds on the Organa-Solo estate Ben watched his brother and Rey. Watched his obvious ease with her and Rey’s soft smile as Poe kissed her hand. 

He walked into the house unwilling to see any more. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ben. He’s going to be a beast next chapter. 
> 
> Please hit that kudos button ❤️
> 
> Find me own twitter!   
> @LaneReads


	7. THE LIE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Get me two plane tickets to Paris. One in my name and the other in the name of Rey Fairchild. That’s it.” He dismissed Hux as quickly as he’d come in.
> 
> Hux stood there unmoving and Ben glared at him.
> 
> “When are you flying, sir?” 
> 
> “Tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More eternal devotion and gratitude to LyricalRiot (@Little_womp_rat) for the prompt, encouragement and for beta reading. 
> 
> Thank you so much to all of you who are reading, commenting and/or leaving Kudos. I love you all so much. If you’re enjoying the story, I’d love for you to take a moment to let me know. 
> 
> Tags have been updated this chapter to include dubious consent. Rey and Ben finally manage to remain uninterrupted. *ahem*. Rey still doesn’t know that Ben is lying to her about his feelings (is he though?) which creates the question: would she have consented if she knew the truth? 
> 
> CW: I’m not sure this specifically falls into a CW or not, but Ben has a conversation with Snoke this chapter where Ben more or less calls Snoke a derogatory word that in this context is slut shaming to women. Ben’s doing it for shock value, not to shame anyone but Snoke, but I completely understand if you would like to skip over it. Stop reading after the line “we use it for lunches” and start again after “I was thinking more debutant.”

The next morning Ben is determined to deal with this shit now. No more fucking around. 

“How was the theater, sir?” Hux asked as Ben walked by his desk.

“My office.” He barked out at his PA. 

“That good” he heard Hux mutter under his breath.

“Get me two plane tickets to Paris. One in my name and the other in the name of Rey Fairchild. That’s it.” He dismissed Hux as quickly as he’d come in.

Hux stood there unmoving and Ben glared at him.

“When are you flying, sir?” 

“Tomorrow.” Ben already felt better saying it out loud. Felt the pressure in his chest loosen. Tomorrow. He’d take her away from here, away from Poe and get back to some fucking normalcy. 

“Right.” Hux said. “I'll get on it. Also, the Connixes are here.” 

Ben’s blood freezes.

_ Why is Snoke here? _

Did Poe call Kaydel? Did he cancel the engagement? 

“Did we have an appointment?” Ben asked. 

“I don’t see it on any schedule, they just showed up.” Hux shrugged. “I’ve put them in Poe’s office.” 

_ Fuck _ .

Ben needed reinforcements. “Is my mother in yet?” 

***

Ben entered Poe’s office to see Bazine and his mother already with their heads together and looking at stacks of paper. 

“For the invitations we’d thought we’d use recycled paper.” Bazine preened. Ben scoffed to himself, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. High society at its best. As if the invitations printed on reused paper would somehow excuse the excess of a million dollar wedding. 

“Why does it always look dirty?” He heard his mother murmur looking over the paper. 

Ben did roll his eyes then, but this was all good news. If his mother and Bazine were discussing wedding invitations that meant there’s still a wedding. 

Snoke was slowly strolling around Poe’s office, taking in the clear signs of disuse. 

“I’ve got the same thing with a nephew. I gave him a big office. He’s never there either.” Snoke commented before taking a seat in an empty chair. “We use it for lunches.” 

Ben wasn’t in the mood. He needed to know why they were here. 

“What’s the problem, Snoke?” 

Snoke gave his hand a little wave. “Oh there’s no problem, from our point of view.” He smirked, a grin bordering on malicious. “I feel like, what’s that word, when all the guys are after you?”

He raised one of his eyebrows. “A whore?” Ben knew he was playing a dangerous game, but he was done waiting for Snoke to get to the point. He saw Leia’s eyes widen at him, clearly wondering what the hell he was thinking. 

Snoke seemed startled for a moment but brushed off Ben’s words as if they were no concern to him. “I was thinking more debutant.” He said with a sniff. “Somebody else wants to be in bed with Connix. I’m sure you know Rebellion Technologies?” 

Ben nodded. 

“Impressive proposal. Cash. Stock, and they won’t tell me how to run the business.” 

_ Fuck you, Snoke. I run this business.  _

Before Ben could respond Leia was already there. “Well how flattering for you, Patrick.” He could hear the condescension in his mother’s tone. No one told her how to run her business either. 

“So how did you leave it with them?” Ben asked Snoke. 

Snoke’s posture seemed to relax now, his smile easy as if he were among friends and not discussing the biggest deal either one of their companies had ever been a part of. 

“Well, we told them that we’re practically family with Organa Corp. and that we couldn’t possibly entertain their offer. At this time.” 

Ben clenched his teeth, hands in his pockets to prevent himself from dragging one through his hair, still wishing for Snoke to spit out whatever the fuck it was he wanted to say.

“Kaydel decided to fly home last night. She called Poe.” 

There it was. 

“We got the impression” Snoke said, 

“You.” Bazine interrupted him. “You got the impression.” 

Snoke nodded in deference to his wife. “Fine. I got the impression that Poe wasn’t as anxious to see Kaydel as he should be.” 

“But he’s not himself, Patrick. He’s been injured and he’s on heavy medication.” His mother was quick to jump in, her calm demeanor soothing as always. “He wants to be perfect before he sees her again, of course.” 

She was the picture of sincerity, so sweet sugar wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Snoke watched her for a moment but didn’t push it any further. “That’s what I thought.” 

***

Ben left Poe’s office and pulled out his phone. 

“Ben” Rey’s voice sounded happy, breathless as if she had been waiting for him to call. 

“Listen, Rey. Do you think you'd mind another trip into the city? I have some business I’d like to discuss with you?”

“Oh” she sounded quiet now, less sure. “Business?” 

“Could you meet me at my office? It would mean a great deal to me if you could. Please, Rey.” 

“Okay. Yes, of course, I’ll meet you.” 

He was back behind his desk when Leia walked into his office without bothering to knock. 

“That little leprechaun was making a veiled threat” his mother put her hands on her hips.

“There was no veil.” Ben sighed for a moment, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s under control. I’m going to Paris tomorrow.” 

His mother was clearly shocked. “What? What do you mean you’re going to Paris?”

“It’s a long story, Mother, and I have a lot to prepare, so if you don’t mind?” He gestured to his office door. She sat down in a chair across from his desk, no intention of going anywhere.

“I like long stories.” 

Ben blew out a breath. “Well you won’t like this one.” 

“Try me.” Leia Organa-Solo wasn’t used to being denied. 

“Things have been progressing with Rey. We’ve,” he searched for the right word for a moment, to describe the connection. “We’ve bonded. We’ve been confiding in each other. Last night over a handful of couscous I told her I thought my life was in need of some radical changes. I told her I was thinking about getting away, moving to Paris. She didn’t say it, but I know she thought that was a great idea.” 

Leia watched him carefully. “And she believed you?”

“More than that, I think she’ll want to go with me.” 

He watched his mother, could tell there was doubt there. Everyone in that house knew Rey had fancied herself in love with Poe for years, eyes following him everywhere he went. Everyone except Poe, that is. “How do you know?” She asked him. 

Ben remembered Rey’s face over dinner last night. Her eyes wide as he told her that he wanted to get away, to choose his own life. She’d wanted that for him. She understood what it meant to find yourself in Paris and she wanted him to go. She wanted to go with him. 

There was a reason he was good at his job. He’d built his career attacking other businesses, other people’s weaknesses, knowing exactly when to strike. He was a shark and he could smell her blood. “I just know,” he told Leia. This is what he did. He found strength in his plans. He was the CEO of this company and nothing would stand in his way. 

“So here’s the way it’ll play out. Rey will go to Paris with me. A wiser Poe will return to Kaydel. I’ll come back from Paris to sign the papers. The merger will close. We’ll make a very large sum of money and you can buy a house in Tuscany.” 

“I have a house in Tuscany.” Leia eyed him carefully. “What happens to Rey?” 

Ben ignored the twinge he felt somewhere under the left side of his ribcage. “She grows up.” 

She looked stricken. “You’re going to ditch her?”

“How did you think this was going to happen, Mother? Did you think there was some nice way to do it?” Ben raked his hand up through his hair, no longer able to hide his annoyance. 

She seemed at a loss for words. “Well, I don’t know what I thought. I don’t want her to be”

“Unhappy?” Ben cut her off. “You’ve never cared about anyone’s feelings before. It’s just business. No different than any other time we’ve taken over another company. You’ve always signed on the dotted line and then went to the hairdressers without looking back.” 

He knew his words were harsh but true and someone needed to be the one to keep it the fuck together. 

“She’s Chewie’s daughter.” Leia whispered. “I think I must be getting old. I feel terrible.” 

Ben didn’t have time for this. He turned back to his computer, determined to finalize everything before Rey arrived. “Take a pill.” 

“Watch it.” she snapped back at him. “I’m still your mother.” 

He didn’t bother to take his eyes off his computer screen. “And you taught me everything I know.” 

“I didn’t teach you this.” It was quiet for a moment and then she stood to leave. “You were right, I didn’t like your story. Please excuse me, I have calls to return,” and with that she walked out of his office. 

***

Rey isn’t sure how long she stood in the lobby of the Organa Corporation building unwilling to get on the elevator. She couldn’t get the word out of her head. Business. She’d been so happy when her phone rang and she saw his name, she had wondered if he’d been unable to stop thinking about her too. But that word, it reminded her of the solarium. Of his oh so casual offer for her to go away. 

She’d finally made her way up to just outside his office and wondered if it made her a coward to run away now. She fussed with her dress for a moment, picking off imaginary lint to buy herself even a few more seconds of time. 

“Ah Miss Fairchild. He was expecting you much earlier. I’ll let him know you’re here.” 

Rey panicked, looking over at Ben's assistant. “No, um, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Please don’t tell him I’m here.” 

Hux looked at her without blinking. “But he pays me to tell him.” He reached forward and pushed a button on his phone. “Rey Fairchild.” 

A moment later Ben’s door opened for her and he stood aside for her to come in. His hair was disheveled as if he’d run his hands through it several times. “I was beginning to worry.” 

He’d worried about her. Were you supposed to worry about someone who was just business? “Why?” She couldn’t help but ask him. 

“Didn’t you want to come?” He cocked his head to the side waiting, she assumed, for an explanation as to why it was almost 7:00 in the evening and she was just now at his door.

“I asked you first.” She knew it was childish but her apprehension had grown all day and now all she wanted was to hear him tell her why he was worried. 

Ben smiled at her. “I asked you second.”

_ Damn it. _

Rey tried to control her breathing, tried to sound unbothered. “I’ve been walking around manhattan all afternoon. Then I stood in your lobby for an hour.” She could see the curiosity in his eyes but he didn’t interrupt her. She couldn’t stop looking at him now, all of her intentions to appear aloof disappearing. “It’s just, it’s something to do with never seeing you again.” She felt the familiar sting behind her eyes and rushed on, just spilling it all out, like ripping off a band aid. “I didn’t want to come, the idea of leaving, or not seeing you. I’m not sure I could bear it, which of course is ridiculous really because we don’t, you and I aren’t and my father lives on your estate so obviously I would see again at some point.” She knew she wasn’t making sense, rambling in her nervousness, unable to articulate what she wanted. 

“I asked you first”

Ben took her hand, leading her over in front of his desk. “I think what you said,” he frowned for a moment, “whatever you said, makes what I was going to say obsolete.”

She could hear her heart beating and wondered if Ben could hear it too. Surely he could; it was so loud in her own ears. She needed to know. What did he mean? What was he saying?

“Obsolete?” She could barely get the word out. 

He was still smiling at her. That soft smile she liked to believe was reserved for only her, his eyes never leaving her face. “Irrelevant.” 

She wanted to touch him. She brought her hands up, her fingers curling around the ends of his hair. “What’s irrelevant?” He raised his hand and curled it around the side of her neck. 

“I had this whole pretty speech prepared. Practiced in front of the mirror and everything, wondering what you would say.”

_ Tell me _ , she thought,  _ just say it.  _

“I want you to come to Paris.” He said it so quietly, as he rested his forehead against hers.

Rey’s tears spilled over. “You mean go to Paris.” 

“No,” he said, as he lifted his head from hers. “I want you to come to Paris. With me.” 

Rey was speechless. She’d spent all afternoon terrified she’d never see him again, not the way she had these last two days and now he was asking her to go away with him. 

_ He’s really doing it.  _

“It’s your fault.” He laughed, answering her as if he could read her thoughts. “You convinced me that there were things missing in my life.” His hand was still on the side of her neck, his thumb lazily stroked her skin and it was all she could think about. She closed her eyes. 

“What was missing?” She murmured. 

His voice was so close and held a trace of humor. “A life.”

“I didn’t think you were listening to me.” Rey could feel herself getting swept away by him. He was so gentle as he wrapped his arms around her but still managed to hold her so tight. It felt so safe. 

“Of course I was. Will you come? Don’t say no, Rey.” His nose grazed her cheek, she could feel his mouth along her skin. “Say yes. Say yes right now. We can leave tomorrow.” 

Rey opened her eyes and backed up just a little bit away from him. She needed to put some space between them, needed to breathe air that didn’t smell like him.  _ Tomorrow _ ? She’d just come back. She hadn’t spent enough time with her father. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to Poe yet, to explain.

“I have to talk to Poe, I need.” 

“Just come away.” He didn’t let her finish, his eyes pleading now. “He’ll get the idea in a week or two.” 

He was a man that was used to getting what he wanted. Unfortunately right now Rey didn’t know if that was her or if it was something else entirely. 

“You are formidable, aren’t you, in business dealings?” She watched his eyes, waited for him to put on his mask.

She saw as something fleeting passed over his face but his expression never changed. He never hid from her. “This isn’t business.” 

She wanted to believe him, wanted to be the reason he started living, the reason he was happy. “Isn’t everything?”

He pulled her close again, face inches from hers. “What will you tell, Poe?” 

She already knew what she would tell Poe. She knew before she’d walked into this office. Poe deserved to be happy, and so did she. But they wouldn’t find it together. 

“Ben.” He leaned in so near to her, pulling her hands around his waist so their bodies were flush against each other, but didn’t push her further. She wanted him to. She wanted to feel him kiss her and know his words were true. She pushed up on to her tiptoes and pulled him closer, telling him without words what she wanted. His lips came down, moving gently against hers. 

There was a quick sharp knock at the door before Ben’s PA walked in. Rey pushed away from him, turning her face to the windows once again feeling the heat of embarrassment. 

He paused in the doorway. If he felt any awkwardness over the intrusion nothing in his voice gave it away. “I did knock.” She heard him walk further into the office and over to Ben’s desk, setting down two small papers. “Here are your boarding passes. Everything else has been taken care of.” 

She heard Ben thank him as he left the office again but Rey couldn’t focus on anything but the paper on Ben’s desk. She walked over to it, looked down and found two boarding passes for a flight to Paris dated for tomorrow. One in her name, and the other with the name Benjamin Organa Solo. He really was coming with her. He wanted her. A happiness Rey wasn’t sure she’d ever felt before radiated through her. 

“Do you want dinner?” Rey shook her head, and turned to focus on Ben and what he was saying.

“I’m sorry?” 

“Dinner? Are you hungry?” He asked her. 

Rey looked at him, standing there so handsome in his suit and knew she was decidedly not hungry. Not for food anyway. “No.” 

Ben frowned at her. “Are you sure? I could order in.”

Rey’s breath sped up. She knew what she wanted but she wasn’t used to being assertive. She’d spent her entire life wanting someone who had never loved her back and hesitated, but there was a boarding pass on his desk that told her he wanted her to. 

“I would like to not be interrupted.” Rey never took her eyes off him as she said the words. 

He stood there unmoving for so long that she wondered if she’d shocked him. He turned slowly to cross his office and he stopped right in front of his door. She was ready to call out to him, beg him not to leave her when he reached out and locked the door. 

He turned back to her again and the look in his eyes was dangerous as he stalked his way back over to her. He stopped right in front of her, hands just barely grazing her hips. He leaned into her slowly, nose tickling her neck and inhaling deeply as if he was taking in her scent. He brought his face back up to hers, so close their lips were almost touching, but not quite. Without ever taking his eyes off hers he lifted her hips as if she weighed nothing, and set her right on his desk. He pushed himself closer to her, spreading her legs wider around his hips. His hands went to the hem of her dress and then she felt him very carefully push it higher. His fingers barely touched her skin, soft as butterfly kisses as he moved them slowly up her thighs, inch by agonizing inch. 

“Tell me to stop.” he whispered even as his hands still made their ascent, “tell me to stop and I will.” His thumb teased the edge of her lace panties and Rey thought she might expire if he stopped now. 

“Don’t stop.” she tasted his mouth as she said it, using her tongue to gently tease her lips. “Please don’t stop.” 

He brought his head back, face and lips just out of her reach, his eyes pierced her with his want. But there was something else there, behind his desire for her. “Say it.” 

She knew what he wanted. She could see what he needed, what he only showed her. The same thing she needed, to have someone want you. To only want you. 

“Ben.” 

He surged forward, mouth on hers, bruising in its ferocity. His tongue pushed in against hers and she thought she might combust if he didn’t touch her now. She gently rocked her hips to bring his attention back to his hand and then his thumb slipped under the fabric and pressed right where she needed it most. 

The noise he made was obscene. “You’re so wet.” His breath was hard and loud against her, he started circling his thumb faster as he kissed her cheek and then his teeth slid along her jaw and he panted in her ear. “Is this all for me?” 

Rey could hardly think, his hands felt so wonderful touching her. “Yes” she cried out, breath just as heavy as his. 

He shifted now, his other hand leaving its place on her thigh and coming around to the small of her back. He pulled her even closer to him, closer to the edge of the desk, his thumb never leaving her as he pushed one large finger into her. 

She couldn’t stop the cry that slipped past her lips. For one small moment she wondered how good the sound proofing in Ben's office was but she found she didn’t care as much as probably should. She closed her eyes and all she could think about was how good it felt, what this man was doing to her. 

“Say it.” he commanded her, harsh and desperate, bringing his hand from her back up into her hair. He pulled it tight, almost to the point of pain but Rey wanted it just as badly as he did. “Say it again.” 

She felt the stretch of a second finger and she rocked her hips even harder against his thumb, anything to add more of this delicious friction. 

“Rey.” She opened her eyes to look at him. His pupils were blown wide and he pressed his forehead against hers. “Please.” His soft plea was almost enough to send her over the edge by itself, she felt her body tingle, her toes curl. 

“Ben.” She whimpered against his lips. “Please, Ben.” 

He growled, almost feral and kissed her again. His grip was so tight Rey thought she would always be able to feel his hands upon her now, touching her like this. She was as close as she could get to him with his hand between them, hips still rocking. Suddenly he curled his fingers back toward him, rubbing her front wall in just the right place. Her mouth broke away from his. 

“Oh, right there.” Her hands came up and fisted his hair, grip just as tight as his own to prevent him from even thinking about leaving her now. “Please, Ben, don’t stop.”

“I won’t. I’ve got you.” His hand sped up, unrelenting. “You look so good fucking my hand, Sweetheart. Let me make you feel good.” His words were making her crazy, she was so close now. “Let go, baby, come for me.” 

Her body obeyed him. She was too near the edge to do anything but. Her eyes fluttered shut with her release, unable to hold them open for another moment as pleasure spiraled through her and she couldn’t stop from crying out as she clenched down on his hand. 

Rey had never experienced anything close to what he had just given her and her body felt weak but undeniably sated. 

_ La petite mort.  _

He kissed her softly as her heartbeat began to slow. She could see the tenting in his expensive slacks, and she wanted to give him everything he had just given her. 

Rey couldn’t believe all of this had happened, but when she looked up at Ben she knew it was right. Loving Poe all of her life had been easy, a child’s fantasy of the handsome prince who lived in the castle. But Ben, he was beautiful, soft and caring and made her feel more like a woman than anyone else ever had. 

She laughed, suddenly delirious in her happiness. “I can’t believe it.” She pulled him to her and peppered kisses all over his face. “I don’t know what happened, I hardly know you.”

“Yes you do” he whispered as she continued to kiss his face. 

“I wasn’t even interested and” 

“Gee thanks” he cut in, rolling his eyes at her but smiling so she knew he wasn’t really hurt by her words and he kissed her again.

“No” she laughed against his mouth, “no, I just, you know I was so wrapped up in Poe that I had to escape to Paris. I went and I wrote in my stupid journal and I cut my stupid hair and I came back even more stupid than ever.” She knew she was doing it again, rambling, not making sense. “I’m just so happy, Ben. You’ve made me so incredibly happy.” She leaned forward, pushing herself off his desk and moving her hands down to his belt. She wanted to feel him, to taste him. Love him. 

Ben stilled suddenly and his hands came down and clamped on her wrists, halting her progress. 

“Ben, what are you doing?” she pulled against his hands but they were too strong. “Ben” she laughed, “I can’t reach you.” She looked up at him and she felt the entire earth shift. He wasn’t smiling anymore. 

“I can’t do this.” He dropped her hands and stepped back away from her. 

She didn’t know what was happening. “What can’t you do?” 

“You were right.” His words were cold. The desire behind his eyes gone, so thoroughly erased she wondered if it had ever been there at all. 

“I don’t understand.” She whispered. Hadn’t they just been so happy? “Right about what?” 

“About everything. Everything that mattered. It was all a lie. Everything I said to you from the moment I brought the champagne to the solarium.”

She could feel that little girl again clawing her way back out. Rey Nobody. The chauffeur's daughter. Always sitting in a tree, heartbroken and unwanted. “Ben, don’t do this.” She whispered again. “Please.”

“I was sent to deal with you like you said. I sent myself and I did a hell of a good job.” She watched as he started to bring his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose and then stopped, looking at his hand. He was saying all of this to her, telling her how he played her for a fool and his hand was still wet from her. Further proof of how far he’d been willing to go and how stupid she had been, so ready to believe him.

_ I'm going to be sick _ . 

She sat down in one of the office chairs, her legs no longer able to hold her up. 

“There was a marriage. There was a merger. You got in the way. The plan was to take you to Paris and then leave.” He walked away now, into the en suite attached to his office and she heard the water run. He was washing his hands. Washing her off. 

Rey started crying then. She wished to could stop herself but it was too much. She covered her face with her hands as the tears fell. What did she do to deserve this? “Was I really so bad for Poe? So wrong? The chauffeur’s daughter?” 

“That’s not it.” He told her as he walked back into his office. “It was never about that. It was about money. A lot of money. It wasn’t personal.” 

“It was personal to me.” She closed her eyes as more tears fell. Was it just a few moments ago that Hux had brought in those boarding passes and she’d thought he’d loved her? 

_ God. You’re so stupid, Rey. _

Something occurred to her then. She stood and looked at Ben. 

“Rey,” Ben started. 

“What other things?” she interrupted him. 

Confusion came over his face, not understanding her question. “What?” 

“What other things are being taken care of? Hux said there were other things. What are they?” 

Ben sighed. “An apartment for you in Paris. A bank account.” 

_ You prick. _

She wiped the tears from her face with her hand. “How much?” 

“500,000 euros.” He said softly. She could almost see the apology in his eyes but it was too late for both of them. She let out a little laugh though it certainly wasn’t funny. 

She thought back to the first night with him. A million dollars he’d said. “Your first offer was better.”

“Rey,” he paused. “You can have more.” 

Her eyes closed, one last tear falling down her face. “I don’t want more. I don’t want any of it.” 

She wanted to get out of this office. She wanted to find her father and give him a hug. 

And she wanted to go home.

She opened her eyes, ready now. “You know,” she picked up the boarding pass with her name on it before looking back at Ben. “Paris is always a good idea.” She held it up for him to see. “May I?”

“Of course. Please, let me drive you home.” 

Rey walked to the door of his office, and took one last look at him, this beautiful liar that she’d thought was hers.

“I’m flying home, Ben.” She closed the door, to leave both New York and Ben behind her. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone give these two kids a hug. 
> 
> Please hit that Kudos button. ❤️  
> Find my on Twitter:  
> @LaneReads


	8. THE SHATTERED GLASS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’ve won a ticket to Paris.” 
> 
> “Well that’s lucky.” His smile was just as forced.  
> “Are you traveling alone?” 
> 
> Rey thought about those two boarding passes on the desk, how happy they’d made her. One in her name, and one in Ben’s. She did her best to keep her voice from breaking when she’d answered him. 
> 
> “Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I’m so sorry for the delay! I know I’ve posted every weekend pretty regularly up until this point, but this chapter needed time to be told just write 😉 and I hope I did it justice. 
> 
> Thank you so much to all of you who are reading this story! I love you all so much and I cherish every comment and kudos left! 
> 
> Huge thanks as usual to my amazing beta LyricalRiot (@little_womp_rat on Twitter) I couldn’t have done any of this without her amazing prompt and her cheering me on. ❤️
> 
> Also a huge shout out to @driversputa on twitter. Not only did she make the most beautiful moodboard imaginable, she also inspired the addition of a line from the 1954 movie.
> 
> Just an FYI, we switch up to a new POV for a little bit in this chapter! I’m not a huge fan of POV changes, but I think this is needed to really take in the full story!

Seconds passed. 

Minutes. 

Hours.

He sat alone, blanketed in darkness and unmoving, with one hand wrapped around the edge of a rocks glass that had already been refilled. Twice.

Ben had always been a man in control, always did exactly what needed to be done at Organa Corp. Someone needed to be the bad guy, needed to make the tough calls. He’d been all too happy to lift that burden from Leia when the time had come. Calm, collected, ruthless. No one expected Benjamin Solo to be anything else.

His mind drifted back to the night on the beach, as they’d sat together with their dinner and wine. He remembered Rey’s bleak description of him.

The world’s only living heart donor.

Over a decade as CEO and he couldn’t remember feeling a goddamn thing. Not once. But how could he feel so hollow now, if he’d never had a heart to begin with? How could he still feel every single fucking slice of pain from when he’d cut it out so thoroughly from his own chest? 

She'd known it was there. She’d lain her hand against his chest and felt it flutter under her touch. If only they’d both known then what Ben knew now; that every beat, every single god forsaken pump of blood that ran through his veins was all for her. 

_ It’s just business _ , he thought, as his grip on his drink tightened. How many times in his life had he said those fucking words? 

_ I said them to her.  _

He’d stood in that washroom, unable to look at his own reflection as he hid from her while she cried. Benjamin Solo, a coward. He’d had to walk away from her, couldn’t watch as her tears made their way down her face. 

For the first time in his life he’d felt weak. He knew if he’d seen the moment her beautiful, brave face fell, the moment she realized the extent of what he’d done, that he would have gone straight to her. He would have wrapped his arms around her, would have dropped to his knees and begged her forgiveness. He would have whispered against her lips that he would never let her go, that of course he wanted her, that he-

Ben lifted the glass and drained the contents once more. He stood, hair disheveled and fingers splayed and pressed to the top of his desk. His desk where only a few hours ago he’d watched her come apart for him. 

He shouldn’t have touched her, should have kept his hands to himself. But when she’d looked at him, eyes full of the same need he felt every time they touched, he’d felt powerless against her. Her soft voice when she’d told him she didn’t want to be interrupted anymore. The words had gone straight to his head, and then his groin. They’d made him dizzy, almost drunk for her. He’d wanted to touch her, breathe in her sighs, to make her feel so good. And selfishly, he’d needed to know what she tasted like when she came with his name on her lips. 

He’d been too weak to resist even that. He’d stood in front of that sink after, already so thoroughly damned, and brought his hand to his mouth and sucked what was left of her off his fingers. She’d tasted exquisite. 

And she’d been so fucking happy.

He knew then, when she’d reached for him, desperate to return her pleasure and overcome by joy that it wasn’t a lie for him. Not anymore. 

She’d seen a lonely man and she’d understood him better than anyone else had. She’d held his hand in a quiet promise that he wasn’t alone in this world anymore, that she was with him. 

And he’d used her.

He didn’t deserve her hands on him. 

He didn’t deserve her happiness. 

Ben took the glass in his hand once more, thought about her hazel eyes and remembered how she’d tasted like home. He hurled the glass across his office, watched as it shattered against the eggshell colored wall. 

He stood there, chest heaving, as a single tear escaped down his face before he brought his hands down in front of him to smooth out his shirt and sat down once more. 

_ I can fucking fix this.  _

Ben turned to his computer, focused now on his task. She deserved so much more than what he could give her, but there was still time to make it right. 

***

Rey didn’t know how long she stood there, leaning against the door jamb and listening to the soft music that played in the room as she watched Poe circle the billiards table. He was still in his pajamas, hair bed headed and curls unruly, as he focused on his next shot. There was a bottle of champagne and two glasses set on the table among the solid and striped numbered balls. One of the glasses had been left empty. 

“Hi” she finally broke the silence between them. “You’re better it seems.” 

“Oh yeah, much better.” He didn’t look up from the table as he answered her. “The stitches come out tomorrow.” He pulled back the cue to strike again, dropping another ball into a pocket. “And what about you? He asked. “Where are you coming from?” 

Rey closed her eyes, as she left his question unanswered. How did she tell him she was coming from the happiest moment of her life? How did she tell him it was also the worst? She thought perhaps she'd managed to cry all the tears she had left on the train ride back home, but here they were again, pressing against her eyelids and threatening to spill over once more.

When she opened them again she saw that Poe still moved methodically around the table, eyes never leaving the green felt. “I thought we were going to talk. I was planning a little stitch removal celebration. I thought we’d-“ 

“I was with Ben.” Her words were guarded as she tried to pretend saying them aloud wasn’t painful, that it didn’t cause what was left of her bruised heart to shatter where she stood. 

Poe did look at her then, eyes sharp at her confession, but whatever he saw on her face caused his to soften, and acceptance settled there instead. “You know of all the girls I’ve known,” he stopped and chuckled to himself, “and I’ve known some. You’re the only girl I danced with only once.” 

Rey rested her head against the jamb, exhausted but she gave him a small smile. “Twice, actually” she corrected. 

“What?” He looked astonished. “How could I have forgotten?” He was so devastatingly handsome standing there in his flannel pants and cotton robe, adorable confusion on his face. “Was there champagne?”

She laughed at him, she couldn’t help it. Even when it felt like her world was ending, he could always make her laugh. “I was 8. Your mother made you take dancing lessons. I was homework.” 

She’d held on to so many memories like that over the years. Any touch, any smile from him. She’d cherished them, replayed them over and over again like a dream when her father would tell her she was being too fanciful. “ _ You’re reaching for the moon, Darling. _ ” That’s what her father would always say when she came down from her tree. 

Poe hadn’t remembered any of them. 

He’d always been this perfect man, on a pedestal she’d built for him in her mind, and she’d always been just a silly young girl in love with an idea. A very handsome idea, but intangible just the same. 

Not like Ben, with his too serious eyes and lonely smile. Her heart had reached out and touched him as surely as he’d stood in front of her. Now she feared nothing would ever be as real again. 

_ But it wasn’t,  _ she reminded herself. _ Not really.  _

“I’m leaving town, Poe.” Rey said, all the laughter gone from her voice.

“I think I knew that.” He said as he took a sip of his champagne. “I think I always knew you weren’t meant to stay.”

Rey could feel her emotions choking her as she pushed her words out beyond a forced smile. “I’ve won a ticket to Paris.” 

“Well that’s lucky.” His smile was just as forced. “One way?” He asked her. 

“Yes, come to think of it.” 

She saw the question he couldn’t keep out of his eyes before he managed to say it out loud. “Are you traveling alone?” 

Rey thought about those two boarding passes on the desk, how happy they’d made her. One in her name, and one in Ben’s. She did her best to keep her voice from breaking when she’d answered him. 

“Yes.” 

***

The morning light had begun to creep in through his office windows when Hux opened Ben’s door. 

“You’re here.” Ben didn’t bother to turn away from his work as he spoke to his assistant, there was too much to do. 

There was a moment of pause before he heard Hux clear his throat. “So are you?” It came out as more of a question, his PA clearly startled by Ben’s less than pristine appearance and still wearing yesterday’s suit. 

“I want you to call Pryde and the Connixes and tell them there’s an emergency meeting on the merger at noon.” 

“Yes, Sir.” Hux peered over at the broken glass on Ben’s floor. “I’ll call the custodial staff as well, Sir.”

He just nodded and steeled himself to make his next request. 

_ One more thing left to do. _

“Hux, I need you to take the ticket to Paris in my name and exchange it,” he stopped to take a deep breath. He could do this for her, make her happy again. 

“Who shall I transfer the ticket to, Sir?” 

_ Fuck the merger.  _

“Poe Dameron Solo.”

***

“Ben!” Poe screamed his brother’s name as he stalked down the hall of Organa Corp., his fury causing his voice to shake. He always knew Ben was cold, they’d all seen how he did business, but he never imagined he could go so far. “Ben!” He didn’t bother to stop and knock as he barreled into his brother’s office. 

“Good morning, Poe.” Hux saw the look on his face and proceeded to make a hasty exit from Ben’s office. “Can I get you some coffee? No? Okay.” He pulled the door swiftly shut behind him as he’d all but ran out of the room. 

His eyes never left his bastard of a brother as continued right for him. Ben’s mouth turned up in a half smile. “Have I got a surprise for you.” 

“That’s funny, I’ve got one for you too.” Poe snarled as he closed the distance between them. His arm pulled back and then his fist connected with his brother’s face.

Ben stumbled back, a moment of shock clear in his expression as he brought his hand up to hold his jaw. He at least had the decency not to do him the disservice of asking what was wrong. They both knew what he’d done. 

“I’ve watched you do business for years. I thought there was a limit to how sick” he stopped for a moment as he brought one hand up, fist over his mouth as he thought about everything. About Ben yelling at him to sit down when he’d had the champagne flutes in his pockets, about how he kept Rey away from him. He could barely speak over his anger. “How could you, Ben? How could you do what you did to me?” his voice cracked, hurt interlacing with his rage. “How could you do that to her? What makes you think you have the right?” 

“Habit.” Ben’s cool eyes were unreadable as he answered his brother. “Listen, Poe. I tried something, it didn’t work. I mean, it worked,” He watched as Ben brought his hands up and buried them in his hair, “but it really didn't,” he finished quietly. 

Silence fell between the brothers as Poe waited on Ben for something, any explanation. He looked at him then, really looked at him for the first time since he’d charged into his office ready to tear him apart with his bare hands. His clothes, usually so meticulous, were untidied and wrinkled. His eyes were red rimmed, his once perfect hair now tousled and unkempt.

“I want you to go to Paris today with Rey.” 

“What?!” Poe’s jaw dropped open. Of all the things he’d thought Ben might say, he’d never imagined that would be one of them. 

Ben was calm now, resolute, and this was the brother he knew so well. He had a plan, he expected it to be executed. “This whole thing was just a business tactic, but it got out of hand.” His eyes screwed shut for a moment, like he was trying to hide from a memory he couldn’t out run. “Somehow how I lost my focus. I fucked up everything, but I know it can be fixed.”

It wasn’t often Poe found himself speechless. 

“I manipulated her, Poe, but she’s loved you all her life.” He smiled at him, but Poe could see that it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You’re what she really wants, what she deserves. Go with her. It’s not too late, you’ll make each other happy.”

Poe didn’t understand, couldn’t understand what had just happened. He’d come in here to tell Ben to fuck off but figured after he did that Ben would yell at him in return. Remind him that he wasn’t alone in this mess, that Poe and his dick were just as much to blame. Maybe he’d even wanted Ben to scream back, knowing they’d both used Rey badly. Both selfish in their own ways. 

“I don’t want her to have to leave here alone.” Ben’s voice cracked as he whispered the words. 

Poe still couldn’t speak, just slowly nodded at the pain on his brother’s face that he couldn’t quite conceal.

_ Hell. He loves her.  _

He needed to know if he was right, wanted to be absolutely sure what he saw on Ben’s face was true. “What about Snoke and the merger?”

“Leave Snoke to me.” His voice left no room for argument. 

“You’d blow a billion dollars for this?”  _ For her?  _ Poe left the words unspoken between them. Ben’s jaw clenched, he didn’t speak but he didn’t have to, his non reply could be heard echoing off the walls of his office. 

“I see.” Poe told him, and he finally did. 

Ben turned away from him to walk back to his desk, a punch in the face hardly a reason to stop working. “Get going, you don’t want to miss your flight.” 

Poe turned and walked out of Ben’s office. 

_ That big oaf really loves her, and he's just going to give her up. To him.  _

Poe spotted Hux at his desk and began to formulate a plan. “Hux, please have my assistant meet me in my office.” He circled for a moment, glancing around the hallway before he turned back to the red haired man. “But first, where exactly is my office.” 

***

An hour later Poe was on the phone with Pryde trying to unfuck all the commands Ben had issued this morning in preparation to cancel the merger. “I know what your instructions were but it’s a mistake. There’s been a change in plans.” 

He heard a knock at the door and looked up to see Kaydel standing there, wearing a similar expression to the one he wore when he’d stormed Ben’s office earlier. He wondered for a moment if she would punch him in the face too. He deserved it, just as Ben had. “Just get started,” he told Pryde, no longer listening to the other end of the phone, “I’m going to have to call you back.” 

She was beautiful as she stood there with her eyes narrowed at him, her blonde hair spilling down over her shoulders and onto the navy dress she wore. He knew looking at her that he’d been an idiot. 

A scared idiot, but an idiot all the same. 

She’d been everything he’d ever wanted. She was funny and so smart. She was a doctor for Christ’s sake, what wasn’t there to love? But he’d wanted to run away from her as soon as they’d set a date. He was so worried marrying Kaydel meant he would have to finally start coming to the office every day. He'd have to be a part of the never ending 9 to 5 daily grind, only to spend all his days at the office in his brother’s shadow, a Poor Man’s Ben. 

He’d been perfectly happy to spend his life being the charming idiot instead, thank you very much. No one expected anything more from him, and this merger with Connix had only made it more obvious to Poe that Ben would always be three steps ahead of him while he was still sitting at the kids table. 

And then Rey had come home, so lovely and all grown up and it had been so easy to get lost in her instead. 

He was almost suffocated by it now, looking at Kaydel, at what a fool he’d been. She'd never cared that he didn’t fit into some corporate mold, she’d just loved the way he made her laugh at the end of a long day. 

And she said yes when he asked her to marry him.

He was ready now. He had always loved his mother’s company, but more than that, he loved Kaydel. 

And he loved Ben, so he wasn’t about to let him make the biggest mistake of his life. 

“Thanks for getting here so quickly.” Poe took her hand and led her over to the couch in the little sitting area of his office. He took a deep breath and knew every day that he would try to earn her forgiveness. “I need to tell you a story, and I need for you to tell me how it ends.”

***

“But you’ve just come home.” Her father stood there, a cup of earl grey in his hand and she could hear the pain in his voice as she and Maz packed her suitcase again. 

“I know, dad.” Rey continued folding the small pile of clothes in front of her, “but it’s better this way.” She’d spent all night and this morning convincing herself of that very fact. She loved Paris, she was happy there. Finn, Rose and DJ were all there. They were waiting for her to come home. 

“Better for whom?” Her father asked, voice a bit more brisk than usual, “better for Poe?” 

She didn’t answer him, couldn’t. Her hands shook as she picked up the familiar black sweater. For a brief moment she allowed herself to feel her sadness, her pain as she thought about the words he had said to her. “ _ I can’t do this.”  _ The cashmere was soft and delicate as she lifted the sweater and rubbed it against her cheek, breathing him in as surely as if he had been woven into the fabric. It smelled like him, but it also held traces of her rose scented soap as well. Her chest ached with the realization that it smelled like them. 

“Better for Benjamin?” His voice was quieter now and Rey’s eyes snapped open. She hastily folded his sweater and placed it alongside the rest of her things. He could buy a new one. She was quite sure he would make enough millions in his new merger to cover the cost.

“It’s better for me, Dad.” She said, and her tone was a bit brisk as well. 

“Rey, I-“ 

Maz cut her father off as she loudly cleared her throat before she reached over and took Rey’s hand. “Will you go back to the magazine?”

Rey thought about Gwendolyn and knew she would be happy to welcome her back. She’d been so grateful for her, all those months ago in that little cafe telling her there was no reason to be ashamed of her loneliness. She wrapped those words around her last night as she cried in bed, and wrapped them even tighter this morning when she’d told herself that she was going to be fine. This wasn’t who she was anymore, some lonely little girl pining for someone who didn’t love her back. She didn’t know how she’d forgotten herself over these last few days, but it was going to be okay now. She was going home, to her friends, to herself. 

“I’ll call Gwen when I land, I’m sure she’ll be able to help.” She turned back and looked back at her father and he gave her a small smile. “I promise, it IS better. Paris is my home now, Dad. I learned how to live there, how to be in the world, truly a part of it, and not just watching it from the sidelines.” She gave Maz’s hand a small squeeze as she spoke, “or from a tree.” 

“Rey, I want to tell you something.” Her father’s words were gentle but serious. “When your mother and I first came here, she cooked and I drove. We had no expenses and after a couple of years we’d saved $15,000. I’ve always driven Mrs. Organa-Solo and she's never closed the window between us. She transacted a lot of business on the daily commute, and I paid attention. When she bought, I bought and when she sold, I sold.” He stopped for a moment, and his old eyes sparkled as if they held a secret. 

God, better or not, she really would miss him. “Dad, are you trying to tell me you have a million dollars?” She and Maz laughed together at her jest. 

“No,” he shook his head. “A little over two million actually.” Rey and Maz both dropped the clothes they had gone back to folding.

“What!?” 

“You’re mother and I were happy here, Rey.” Her father walked over to her and placed a kiss on the top of her hair. “We always dreamed of what it would be like to do this for you. Two million might have exceeded our expectations,” she could see that his eyes were misty as he spoke, “then again you’ve always exceeded mine.”

She hugged him then, and for one small moment she felt like a little girl in her father’s arms. Nothing could hurt her anymore. 

“Dad, it’s too much. I can’t take your money.” Rey tried to tell him. 

“You can and you will.” Her father cut her off. “It’ll give you a bit of time to get back on your feet, and you can make it up to me by sending me the photographs you’ve taken in the meantime.” 

“It’s a deal.” She laughed and watched as Maz walked over to her father. 

“All those years, you made all that money and never told any of us how to do it.” Maz swatted his arm, but there was no real anger in it and Rey laughed some more. 

“I’ll tell you how, Maz.” The look her father gave the small housekeeper confirmed for Rey her suspicions about the two of them. “Marry me, Maz,” he winked at her with his jest, and Maz’s jaw dropped open in surprise. “Marry me for my money.” 

Rey’s hand flew to her mouth. 

“I’m not amused, Chewbacca Fairchild,” Maz put her hands on her hips, formidable even at less than five feet tall. “And I have a very good sense of humor.”

He turned to look at Rey for a moment as if he’d managed to startle even himself, before his eyes softened with a laugh and he turned back to Maz again. “Then marry me for love.” 

Rey didn’t try to stop her tears this time as she watched her father lean down to give Maz a sweet kiss. 

She exhaled her relief, her father was going to be okay. 

And she smiled to herself and knew that she was going to be okay too. 

Maybe her father had gotten in wrong, maybe she never was reaching for the moon.

_ Maybe the moon is reaching for me.  _

***

“What the hell is going on?” Patrick Snoke Connix was not a man who was used to being kept waiting, or kept in the dark. He prowled around Ben’s office like a lion trapped in a cage, irritation radiating off of him in waves. 

Ben sat on the edge of his desk, arms crossed against his chest and watched as they’d all come in at his request. First Snoke with his animal-like pacing, and then Bazine, arm in arm with his mother as she prattled on about the perfect dress she’d found for the wedding. 

The only surprise had been when his father had walked in. Sure, he’d come to the office plenty of times, dropping in to steal his mother for lunch or joining Ben for a scotch at the end of the day. But the only interest his father ever had with Organa Corp. started and ended with his devotion to Leia Organa. Ben wondered why she’d asked him to come. 

Han had been in his fair share of bar brawls in his youth. Maybe his mother was worried Snoke wouldn’t take the news well. 

It was only when Hux walked into his office and closed the door with a nod that Ben started to speak. 

“We’ve known each other for a long time, Patrick. We may have played hardball on occasion, but I like to think we have a healthy respect for our individual business abilities.” It was true, Snoke may have been a pain in Ben’s ass during all the merger negotiations, but it was because he was a hell of a businessman. It’s the reason Ben wanted this merger to begin with. “I know the potential that we saw here with this merger, and I don’t think anyone doubts it would have been an enormously successful venture.” 

Snoke’s face paled as he stopped his incessant pacing and turned to Ben. “What do you mean, would have been?”

Ben took a deep breath, ready as he would ever be to break the news that the deal was off. “The purpose of this meeting is to inform you that my brother Poe-“ 

“Is late as usual, sorry everybody!” Poe’s smile was bright and unapologetic as he burst through the door of Ben’s office, one hand wrapped around Kaydel’s. “So are we merging now or what?” 

“What are you doing here?” Ben demanded as he shot to his feet, unable to believe what he was seeing. 

“Kaydel and I have decided to elope.” Poe put his arm around Kaydel’s shoulder and bent down to kiss her cheek. “We figured what better time to tell everyone since we’re all here!” 

“What?” Bazine was the first to speak, “Sweetie, you can’t elope now!” 

Kaydel walked away from Poe to take a seat next to her mother on the sofa. “I’m sorry about the wedding, Mom, but this is what Poe and I really want.” 

Ben tried to remember what the first sign of a stroke was, sure  he was experiencing one now. 

“Poe, where is Rey?” Ben couldn’t contain the the horror in his voice. He’d thought Poe would take his opportunity to run away with her. He had a chance to be with her, to love her, and now he and Kaydel were eloping? 

_ What. The. Fuck. _

“Who is Rey?” Bazine asked Leia and Kaydel, but neither answered. Both, it seemed, were too focused on Poe and Ben. 

“You didn’t go with her?” Ben felt sick. Rey was on that plane, leaving her home again and all alone. Poe was supposed to be with her. 

He was going to strangle him. 

“Obviously not, Ben. I mean, here I am, right?” Poe shrugged, hands in his pocket now, as he winked at Kaydel. “She’s probably having her beverage service right about now.”

“Who is?” Bazine huffed again. 

“Rey,” his mother supplied, though her eyes never left Ben while she spoke. 

“From the party.” Snoke rolled his eyes, “you remember, the chauffeur’s daughter.” 

“Don’t call her that!” Ben snapped at him, “you don’t talk about her like that.” He already wanted to kill Poe, if Snoke didn’t shut the fuck up he was going to have to throttle him as well.

She was so much more than that, more than the chauffeur’s daughter. She was Rey. 

And she was everything. 

He turned his attention to Kaydel and watched as a haughty expression came over her features. “She was after Poe, then she switched to Ben” Kaydel sniffed, “she decided he was the one with all the power.”

Ben reached up and grabbed at his shirt collar, his tie suddenly too tight and too heavy. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, like someone had tied a noose around his neck that he couldn’t slip out of. 

“He said that?” His words were sharp and furious. Why would Poe say that? He knew Rey would never, she wasn’t- , he turned to his brother, eyes blazing, “You told her that?”

Kaydel spoke again, her icy eyes never leaving Ben. “Of course, he told me everything.”

“You didn’t see her before she left?” Poe should have gone to her, he’d fucking told him to go.

“Oh sure. I said goodbye, wished her luck. I think, maybe I didn’t.” His tone was bored as he feigned contemplation. “Honestly, I told her I felt a little funny accepting your hand me downs.” He was so blasé, casual is his cruelty as he spoke of her. “I told her not to take it personally. You’ve always been generous to your women in the past and I’m sure she’d been more than compensated for...” he stopped and wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively, “whatever.”

In hindsight those words should have given Ben pause. If he'd only stopped for one second, it would have tipped him off and he would have heard the lie in Poe’s words. He would have seen the devious sparkle in his brother’s eyes and known something was amiss. There were no women in Ben’s past, holed up in this city or anywhere else, and living off his generosity. He’d certainly never financially compensated anyone for sex. 

But he was too blinded by his absolute rage at Poe’s words, the implication that he’d made about her without actually coming out and saying it. One minute he was standing in front of his desk, the next he was right in front of Poe as his fist swung out and landed on his brother’s face. He watched with a bit too much satisfaction as Poe fell to the floor. 

His satisfaction quickly shifted to bewilderment as Poe sat up and beamed at him. “Ha! I told you!” Poe’s know-it-all grin was all teeth as he’d shouted to everyone in the room, “he loves her!” 

_ What’s the second sign of a stroke?  _

Poe stood, the little shake of his head the only sign that he’d just taken a blow from Ben hard enough to hit the ground. “Is he packed?”

Ben still felt disoriented himself from Poe’s sudden exclamation. “Is who packed?” 

“You are,” Hux held up Ben’s old leather duffle. “Just the one bag. You have the most organized underwear drawer I’ve ever seen in my life, it was like touching the Shroud of Turin.” Hux continued in his usual dry tone until he remembered himself, “uh, Sir.” 

“Jesus, you’re all nuts,” Snoke commented from the other side of Ben’s office. He ignored him. 

“You went to my apartment?” When had Hux had time to go to his apartment? How did he even get access? 

“Ben, I took him.” His mother stood and crossed the office to Ben, taking his hands in hers. “You know I love you.” He could feel his face growing warm. Leia Organa wasn’t prone to emotional speeches, especially not in front of other people. Ben certainly wasn’t used to receiving them. “No mother could be more proud to have you for a son, but I think it’s time for you to run away from home.” 

“But here, sign this first” Poe said, shoving a pen and some papers in between them and interrupting the sweet moment. “It’s your authorization on the merger. Oh and this.” Poe threw another paper on the stack. “It’s my raise,” he grinned, “for my new position here at the office.” 

They walked together to Ben’s desk and Poe laid out all the documents for his signature, handing him the pen as he explained all the arrangements he’d made in Ben’s stead. “There’s a car waiting downstairs and a helicopter at East 60th. The flight was changed to a later time but you’ll only be a few hours behind her.” 

He hesitated at the empty signature lines and panic gripped at him, clawed its way out of his chest as he thought about seeing her again. Would she be happy to see him? Would she be appalled at his nerve, showing up in her city, uninvited and unwelcome? 

“Go Ben,” Kaydel said softly behind him. “don’t think, just go.” 

Ben laughed, half choked by the tension, with his hand shaking as he signed on the dotted lines. “This is crazy, she must absolutely hate me and now I’m supposed to just walk out of here and go to Paris.” 

“Running is probably better,” Poe said with a slap on his back, “your flight is in an hour.” 

Ben looked at his parents standing there, both with smiles on their faces. 

“Dad.” Ben didn’t know how to finish. 

“I know.” Maybe it came from being married to Leia all those years, but Han had always just known whatever it was that Ben couldn’t quite say. “Go get her, Kid.”

After a quick kiss on his mother’s cheek, Hux handed him his leather bag and he turned back to the room, still a little shell shocked from the whirlwind of events. “If you’ll excuse me, it seems I have a prior engagement.” 

Ben was almost out of his office when he heard Poe speaking again and he stopped, turning back to watch as Poe shifted his attention to the merger and his future father in law again. 

“Now Snoke, the debt burden this merger will accumulate will make it essential to restructure a couple of divisions that are generating cash drains.” Poe handed a few sets of documents to his mother and Snoke, “Now, I’ve done a very quick review of last quarter's performance of each division from both companies.” 

“Poe,” Leia’s astonished gasp could be heard the next building over, “when did you ever?” 

“Mother, you’ve copied me on the company's financial statements for 10 years,” Poe quipped, “you just assumed I couldn’t read.” 

Poe caught Ben out of the corner of his eye and he waved him off, telling him without words he needed to get going. As Ben walked out of Organa Corp. he felt happier, lighter than he’d felt in years. He smiled to himself, knowing they would be okay. 

***

Any temporary reprieve he’d felt from his self induced agony quickly fizzled upon seeing Fairchild. The drive to the airport was quiet and the air was thick with the unsaid words between them. 

“Go ahead, say it.” Ben finally conceded, he could see the words as plain as day on Fairchild’s face. They threatened to break through his carefully polite facade and Ben watched as his hands gripped tighter on the steering wheel. 

“You don’t deserve her.” His accent was crisp, cold. 

“I don’t,” he exhaled. “I know that.” 

Ben knew he didn’t. It’s exactly why he’d thought he could give her up, why he’d thought taking a backseat to Poe would somehow make everything right. 

But now, with only the slightest bit of possibility that she would even take him back, he knew he couldn’t give her up ever again. 

“But I need her.” Ben never looked away from Fairchild’s steady eyes in the rear view mirror. “And I don’t need anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please hit that kudos button! ❤️
> 
> Find me on Twitter! (And also see the beautiful moodboard by @driversputa!)  
> @LaneReads


	9. THE PROMISE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He almost laughed at himself. 
> 
> The CEO of Organa Corp. Talking to a river.
> 
> But as he’d made his way closer and thought about Rey, about how well she knew him, he didn’t laugh at all. She’d understand all of this perfectly. Just the way she always did, peering straight past his fierce scowl or plastered on grin, telling him with her eyes that the mask he wore for the rest of the world had no effect on her. 
> 
> It shouldn’t have surprised him then, as he’d held her words close to his chest and they’d carried him closer to the bridge and the river, that that's exactly where he found her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. This is it. 
> 
> I want to thank all of you so much for coming on this first fic journey with me. I’m so grateful to each and every single one of you who have read this story, left Kudos and/or commented. Seriously I love you all. 
> 
> One last time, I’m an pledging my undying devotion and gratitude to LyricalRiot here on Ao3 (@little_womp_rat on twitter) for being the best cheerleader/beta reader I could have ever asked for. This was her prompt and I’m so happy I was able to (hopefully) do it justice. 
> 
> I’d also like to make a quick little shout out to Lucile_Ies_Ile for not only helping to make sure Ben’s French isn’t ridiculous, but also each and every one of her very sweet comments.

Rey stood on the Pont Alexandre III, camera in hand, and watched as the sun slowly rose over the Seine, illuminating the lamp posts and gilded fames. 

It had been almost three in morning when she checked into her room at L’Hotel Paris, but instead of the king-sized bed welcoming her after a sleepless flight, it only seemed to serve as an empty reminder that it was large enough for two. The inky blackness of the early morning hour had surrounded her, suffocated the space, until it was near enough to daylight that she could grab her camera and escape the dark and lonely room. 

When Rey had first come to Paris two years ago, she spent the first few months of her time in the city feeling sorry for herself. She’d missed her father,  _ she’d missed Poe _ . She’d thought nothing could ever replace the feeling of being close to him. Of course, that hadn’t been true. Like most things, time had healed those wounds too and afterwards she’d been so happy here, happy with her job at the magazine, happy with her friends. 

She’d stood on this bridge less than a week ago, intoxicated by the rose colored sky and searched for the words to say goodbye to her newfound home. She’d wondered if it was possible to stand here, watching the glistening lights of the Eiffel Tower against the evening sky and feel anything but wonder and bliss. 

She lifted her camera, capturing the freshly sun-kissed nymphs and lions and told herself she could be that happy again. She’d managed before, she would do it again. She was quite sure a few days was all it would take to forget what her hand had felt like clasped in a much larger one, or the feeling in her stomach when he smiled at her. 

The small one, the one she knew was only for her. 

Just a couple more days and she would be fine. 

She sighed as she turned her camera to take in the empty bridge. In a few short hours it would be bustling with tourists trying to share in her splendor, she wanted to take advantage of the emptiness. It suited her mood. 

She noticed then that she wasn’t the only early riser who took in the sun as it crested over the horizon and made its journey up into the sky. He was leaning on the railing further down, head bent behind one ornate lamp post that obscured his features from her, and his dark clothes stood out against the light stone of the bridge. Rey wondered for a moment what his story was. 

What kind of a man stood on the Pont Alexandre and watched the Seine River and the sunrise? Was he as blissful as she had been only days ago? Or was he lonely too? 

She heard a small voice whisper in the back of her mind “ _ what kind of a man takes a job keeping a lighthouse? _ ” and pushed back against the memories. She snuck a little closer to see if she could capture the contemplation of the half hidden man. 

She watched transfixed through her lens as the man straightened and lifted a hand to run his fingers through his long sable hair. 

Rey felt her breath catch in her throat, watched his own eyes widen in surprise when he turned in her direction and saw she had been taking his picture.

She was completely frozen, as still as a moment captured in one of her photographs, and she watched as he reached down to pick up an old leather duffle bag she hadn’t noticed before and began to walk down the bridge towards her. 

He stopped a few feet from her, less certain now of his welcome, and Rey’s hands seemed to move of their own accord. She lifted her camera again and snapped a photo of him, quickly peeking down at the view screen in front of her. She was apparently not above checking to see if he really stood there, or if this was just some sort of sleep deprived delirium. 

“I’ve been told that I’m very photogenic.” The deep timbre of his voice cut through the silence between them, jolted her out of her suspended state and she knew then that he was real.

Every part of her clenched at how beautiful he was in the early morning light. His dark hair brushed against the shoulders of a soft black sweater, suspiciously similar to the one she was currently enveloped in. He offered her the tiniest hint of smile, his mouth just barely curving on the one side.

“It’s because you're so handsome” she smiled back, not able to deny it this time, standing here with him on this beautiful bridge in Paris. 

_ Are you here for me?  _

“What are you doing here?” She whispered, looking up at him and unable to say the words she’d really wanted, scared it was all some cruel joke that led to him standing here across from her. Close enough that she could make out a hint of his expensive cologne, close enough she could almost reach out and touch. 

She could feel the war building up between the emotions inside of her, half her heart deliriously happy to see him, but the other half waving a white flag in the background as if to say “ _ It’s too much. Please, I surrender. I can’t take it anymore. _ ” 

She watched as he swallowed and peered around at all the sculptures before he turned his gaze back to her. 

“You told me that night at the restaurant that you liked to walk along the Seine, over all the bridges of Paris.” He paused and bit his lower lip, almost as if he was nervous before he continued. “I, um, thought it might make me feel closer to you if I found a bridge and listened to the river.” She could see the red blush as it started to creep up his face at the quiet admission. “At least until it was a more reasonable hour and I could knock on your room door.” 

She would have laughed if it hadn’t meant quite so much to her that he had really listened to her words in the restaurant. That he hadn’t feigned interest as she’d rambled on and on in between bites of couscous as they’d sat among the colorful pillows.

“Ben” she tried again, “I meant what are you doing here in Paris?” 

“You’re here.” He said and his voice softened as he took another step closer to her, “You said Paris was always a good idea. You said it was your home. But Rey.” She watched him swallow again, watched his hand start to reach out for her before he thought better of it and pulled it back. “Rey, you’re my home.” 

She felt the telltale sting behind her eyes as she stared back at his face, no mask in sight. But she hesitated, she’d fallen for that before. 

“I thought it was all a lie.” She ignored the voice screaming inside her head that she was right all along. That she knew him, that she saw him. That his small smiles really were for her. 

He’d told her it was a lie. He'd let her cry and walk out of his office after — she squeezed her eyes shut, stuffing down the memories of his hands and his lips. 

“It was a lie.” Ben moved even closer to her now, bringing both hands up slowly to each side of her face. His eyes searched hers and waited a beat for some unspoken permission, before gently resting them under her jaw, fingers curling around the base of her neck and tangling into her hair. “But then it wasn’t anymore, and God. Then it was a dream.” 

She wanted to lean into his hands, hold them tight and never let go but she didn’t know if she could. How would she know if what he was saying was the truth?

“I don’t know how to believe you,” she choked on the words. “How could I ever?”

“Because you know me.” He leaned his forehead against hers, his voice a desperate whisper now. “You know me better than anyone. You see through my bullshit. You tease me, laugh at me, you push me to try new things. Rey, you see me.” Her eyes widened at these words, unable to believe what he had just said. “You see what no one else does. You see behind my mask.” 

She felt her tears fall over her cheeks as she brought her hands up and placed them over his.

“I’m so sorry. You deserve better than me. You deserve to be so happy.” He stood back from her, taking one of her hands and kissing her palm softly before cradling it in his and placing it on his chest. “You danced with me and listened to my heart when no one else even thought I had one. I’m not even sure I knew I had one.” 

His words were more fervent now, his eyes almost black and pleading. “You told me you found yourself in Paris, Rey. I thought I knew exactly who I was, but when I think about that night at the cottage when I made dinner for you, or the bakery when I watched you eat no less than four chocolate cupcakes without coming up for air.” His lips twitched now towards a real smile and Rey giggled too at the memory of the incredulous look on his face when she’d ordered so many. 

He took a deep breath before he continued. “I want that every night. I found myself with you.” 

“You have to promise me you’ll never lie to me again.” 

Her fingers dug into the soft fabric of his sweater as she’d breathed out the words. She could see everything she felt reflected in his eyes. Rey knew it was the same for him, the need, this amazing feeling of finally belonging. 

But she needed to hear him say it. She couldn't, wouldn’t do this again. “Promise me.” 

“I promise.” He said the words fiercely, not just a promise but a prayer, and it was enough to start healing some of the splintered cracks in her heart. She brought her hand away from his chest but didn’t let go of his hand and turned in the direction of the hotel. 

“You’re wrong, you know.” He followed her as she started to walk, she noticed more people were starting to make their way to the over the bridge, cameras and phones already up and ready to capture the arches and pillars. She looked back up and met his eyes. “I don’t deserve better than you.” 

She watched as he started to open his mouth in obvious protest before she interjected again. “I deserve to be treated better.” She raised her eyebrows at him when she said it, daring him to contradict her but knew he wouldn’t. 

“I’m a person with feelings, Ben. I’m not just business.” She saw him wince at the words, but didn’t, wouldn’t apologize for them. “You’re not a terrible person, Benjamin Solo. Sometimes good people do terrible things, but that doesn’t make you bad.” She paused again, wanting him to understand that she’d meant it that night when she told him he wasn’t alone. That she didn’t want anything else. That she didn’t need anyone else. “You deserve good things too.” 

She watched as his eyes closed for a brief moment before he opened them again. Her breath hitched at the depth of the emotion she could see behind them as he pulled her closer. 

She felt him trace his thumb across her cheek, so gently, as if he was afraid she might shatter under his touch and leave him again so soon. His lips brushed against hers. “I love you, Reyna Fair.” 

She felt her lips turn up in a smile before she pushed them against his, her kiss a return promise that she’d always be there to take care of his freshly discovered heart. She had no doubt. 

“I know,” she sighed, her heart tossing away the battered and torn white flag. “I love you too.” 

***

Ben couldn’t believe any of this was real. 

He’d landed in Paris just before sunrise and had taken a cab straight to her hotel. He stood silently, looking at the old building and knew what he wanted so desperately to tell her but also recognized it was an ungodly hour in the morning. After the week she’d had, he hadn’t wanted to interrupt her sleep.

He’d looked up and down the empty Parisian street and thought about the contentment that radiated from Rey whenever she’d spoken of the Seine River and of how it spoke to her. After a quick glance at google maps on his phone, he found his feet taking him in that direction. Would it speak to him as it did Rey? Would it let him know that he still had a chance? 

He almost laughed at himself. 

_ The CEO of Organa Corp. Talking to a river. _

But as he’d made his way closer and thought about Rey, about how well she knew him, he didn’t laugh at all. She’d understand all of this perfectly. Just the way she always did, peering straight past his fierce scowl or plastered on grin, telling him with her eyes that the mask he wore for the rest of the world had no effect on her. 

It shouldn’t have surprised him then, as he’d held her words close to his chest and they’d carried him closer to the bridge and the river, that that's exactly where he found her. 

He’d watched the sun rise over the city and couldn’t remember the last time he’d done this. If he‘d ever done this. Started his day not thinking about reports and emails and money. It was freeing and he told himself that he would have to add it to the growing list of things Rey was spectacularly right about. 

And then, like the thought of her alone was enough to conjure her up before him, there she was. Camera focused, and losing herself in her favorite kind of story. 

He looked down at her next to him, her dainty hand easily wrapped around his one pinky finger as she led him slowly down the hall to her hotel room. She’d laughed when he told her about Poe’s ambush. She’d softly kissed his knuckles and jaw respectively when he’d mentioned their exchanged fists. 

“I promise to show you all around the city,” she murmured against the crook of his neck after she’d inspected for herself that Poe hadn’t done permanent damage. “We’ll window shop and all that, but right now I’m so tired, Ben.” She peeked up at him through her lashes, voice a little shy. “Will you hold me while I sleep?” 

His heart had sped up at her words, still astonished he’d managed to get so fucking lucky with her and her forgiveness. 

“Lead the way, Sweetheart.” 

He’d follow her anywhere. 

***

It was the tender touch of warm fingers sneaking up the side of her hip that finally woke her. 

Moonlight illuminated the room and Rey was vaguely aware that they’d slept all day. They both practically stumbled back to her room, exhausted and elated from the day's events. She’d seen his heated gaze when she’d slipped her leggings off, similar to her own when he’d pulled his sweater over his head. But when they’d crawled into the enormous bed, he’d only given her a sweet, chaste kiss before keeping his promise to hold her while she slept. 

At some point while they napped, Ben had pulled her to his side of the massive bed and held her close, so tight that she wasn’t even sure anymore where he began and she ended. Her back was solidly pressed against the front of his very broad and very naked chest, and he’d wrapped himself entirely around her. As if he couldn’t bear the thought of a single part of his body not touching hers. 

She knew he was awake. She could tell by his less than even breath, almost rough in her ear, by the lazy yet deliberate circles he was drawing onto her skin, each touch a little firmer than the last as his hand slipped under her sweater. 

Rey decided she didn’t feel like sleeping anymore either. 

“Ben,” his name came out ragged, her own breath faster now with every passing circle he drew higher up her chest. 

“I want to feel you,” she felt his heated words against her neck as he pressed his mouth there, tongue hot and teeth sharp against the delicate skin. Felt the length of him pressed against her backside, hard and throbbing with every gentle cant of his hips. “I want to taste you when you finish on my tongue, want to feel you come apart all over every inch of me.” 

Rey pushed her hips back to him, telling him without words that she needed more. Something, anything to ease the ache between her legs that grew with every indecent word he whispered. 

She turned her head, looking over her shoulder and saw the heat in his amber eyes, watched as they darkened as he pulled at the edge of her lacy bra. 

“Kiss me,” she rasped, reaching out for him “please, Ben, kiss me.” 

He lunged forward, arm sliding out from where it had been acting as her pillow and he dug his hand into her hair. His grip was just shy of painful as he brought her lips to his. His teeth teased the edges of her lips, tongue slowly traced the seams as she opened up for him and his tongue swept in. 

She could feel his tension. Could feel him shaking, so tightly coiled with want, but his every move was frustratingly focused. Every brush of his fingertips calculated, every stroke of his tongue against hers seemingly designed by him to drive her mad. 

Just when thought she couldn’t possible take any more of this delicious torture, Ben broke his maddening kiss and he rolled her to him. Flat on her back, she watched as he crawled over her body. Neither one tried to suppress the moan that escaped their lips when he finally pressed himself against her wet center. 

He reached for her sweater, lifted it over her head and threw it somewhere across the room before he reached under her to unclasp her bra. He placed hot, open mouthed kisses along the tops of each breast, slowly slid the straps down each shoulder before he pulled the garment away. 

He made a noise in the back of his throat, almost a growl as he stared down at her chest. “You’re exquisite.” He bent down, settled his face between the valley of her breast, just breathing her in before continuing his exploration. He ran his tongue along the underside of her right breast, gently lapped at the swell before he wrapped his lips around her nipple and began sucking. 

Pleasure blossomed through Rey with every pull of Ben’s lips and when he brought his hand up to her other breast and rolled her other nipple between his thumb and finger, Rey cried out. Her hips rocked against him, her sex soaked panties surely making a mess of his expensive black slacks but Rey didn’t care. 

“Please,” she whimpered, “I need—“

“I know, Baby.” His voice was gravelly, harsh, as he rubbed himself along her center, sloppy kisses trailed down her stomach as he slowly slid down under the sheets. His eyes never left hers as he wrapped his hands around the sides of her lace panties and slowly dragged them down her legs. 

He hitched one leg over his shoulder, pressed feverish kisses to the inside of her thigh, sucked bruises into her skin and Rey’s breath shuddered. He was so close. Her body begged for relief and all he had to do was move his mouth another inch. 

When he finally rested his mouth over her, Rey pushed up against him, anticipation making her impatient and Ben chuckled. 

“Is this what you wanted?” 

Rey’s voice caught, couldn’t answer him as he finally, blessedly, licked between her folds. It was long and deep and her toes curled when his nose pressed against her sensitive bud. His groan was obscene and the vibrations of it sent shivers down her arching spine. 

“You taste so good,” his words were muffled as he continued to lavish her with his mouth. “So good, Baby. I missed your taste.” 

Rey was too frantic, too close to the release she desperately sought out to make any sense of the words he was saying. She reached for him, both hands grabbing fistfuls of hair and she held him tight against her as she ground herself into his pillowy lips. 

Ben lifted his hand from where it rested on her hip, and he easily slid one long finger inside of her. His finger and tongue thrust in tandem and she was driven higher, even closer to that razor sharp edge of bliss when he added a second. 

“Don’t stop,” she trembled,  _ oh god please don’t stop _ she thought and his hand tightened on her hip, he pulled her even closer, buried his tongue in her even deeper as if to wordlessly say “ _ Never. I’ll never stop. _ ” The thought alone was enough to finally tip Rey over into sweet relief. Her eyes closed and hot white pleasure spiraled through her as her legs shook and she came against his mouth. 

He climbed up her body, mouth kissing her everywhere, anywhere he could reach. He was frantic now, like a man starved and Rey was laid out as own his buffet. 

“You’re so beautiful,” his words were lovely, sweet on her lips and in direct contrast to the tangy taste of herself on his tongue. She wanted him inside of her. Needed him inside of her now but when she reached to help him take off his now possibly ruined slacks she froze. 

He saw it, the small scared look in her eye as she remembered the last time he’d made her feel so good, the last time she reached out for him in return. 

He brought his hand up, knuckles lightly stroking her face as he looked into her eyes. He closed the distance between them and placed the gentlest kiss on her lips in another silent apology before he pushed himself back on his knees and unbuttoned his pants. 

She watched, breathless as he divested himself of his pants and boxer briefs. He was perfect, long and thick and for one brief moment she had the faintest thought that perhaps he might not fit. 

She sat up, mouth meeting his, all her fear gone as he reached for her in return. Urgency claimed them again and they were a mash of teeth and lips and tongues as they tried to get even closer to each other. She pulled him down and they both groaned into each other’s mouths as he slid so easily up and down her slit, this new slick friction almost enough to end this sweet torture for them both. 

He whispered frantic words against her lips, words like Sweetheat and wet and  _ fuck _ . 

It wasn’t enough, now that he was right there sliding against her entrance in a maddening rhythm, she needed him. She lifted her hips, the tip of him slid into her entrance and they both stilled.

“Rey,” his voice shook as he held himself above her without moving. “Do you want me to — I have, if you want we can.” 

Rey tried to focus on what he was trying to ask as he held himself together. Her thoughts were frenzied _. Don’t stop, I want you in me, why are you stopping?  _

Oh. 

_ Oh _ . 

She kissed the edge of his mouth and rubbed the tip of her nose against his. “No, I want to feel you. No barriers, just you.

He held himself up on one hand before snaking the other down to cup her backside, angled her just so as he slowly sank into her inch by agonizing inch. She exhaled when he was buried to the hilt and all she could think about, all she could feel was how deep he was. She was so full and completely whole. 

She was home.

She could see the restraint on his face, jaw clasped as he tried to give her time to adjust, needed to make sure she was alright. 

“Ben,” his name practically ripped out of her chest as she wrapped her legs around his hips and rocked against him. “Let go.”

His control snapped. His mouth crashed into her, teeth digging into her lower lip and he pulled himself almost all the way out of her before slamming back into her again. 

“You’re so wet for me, sweet girl.” His hips sped up even faster and she heard his low growl over the sound of skin meeting skin. “You feel so good wrapped about me. Does it feel good, Baby?” 

Rey was too lost, too drunk on his deep thrusts and wicked words to answer him. He brought his hand up, wrapped it around the side of her face and jaw and ran his thumb back and forth over her lower lip. 

“Tell me,” he commanded her, tone sharp and frantic, each quick snap of his hips a plea for her to answer. “Tell me, Rey.” 

“Yes!” She opened her mouth, gently bit down on his thumb before sucking it into her mouth. She watched his already dark eyes become almost black.

“God, you feel so good.” 

His eyes never strayed from her gaze when he dragged his hand away from her jaw and down her body to where they were joined. He took his thumb, still wet from her mouth, and placed it right against her bundle of nerves. She shouted his name. She was soaking now and rocked her hips faster, harder against him as he set every single part of her body aflame. 

“Come for me,” he whispered against her lips, but she was there again already. She chased it now, pleasure building and needing it again so much already. She pressed her lips to his and her body shook as it gave over to his demands, back arching as her second orgasm crashed into her. 

Her heart soared and her walls clenched around him, begging him, pleading with him to come with her. A few more furious strokes and she watched as his mouth fell open, ecstasy etched on his face as he tipped over the edge with her. He held her tight, buried himself even deeper and came with a cry of her name on his lips. 

***

Rey laid there after, eyes never leaving his face as they rested on their sides, legs intertwined and contentment laced through every inch of her. 

She wanted to stay here forever. Hidden away in their little slice of Parisian paradise with no fathers or personal assistants to interrupt them. A thought suddenly occurred to Rey and a giggle escaped her mouth before she could stop it. 

“What’s so funny?” Ben’s own grin turned into a small laugh, clearly pleased by anything that made her even the smallest bit happy. 

“I was just thinking about this past week. Everything that happened,” she let out another small laugh “Poe handling the merger, Hux packing your underwear.” 

Ben laughed out loud, a deep hearty laugh and Rey blinked, trying to remember if she’d actually seen him laugh before. He looked so young, and she reached up to take one of his hands in hers. 

“Yea,” Ben finally said when he’d finished laughing, “I’m sure Hux is happy to be done with me.” 

“I can’t believe you’re staying.” She shifted forward so she could slide the tip of her nose gently against his. “I’m so happy you’re here.” 

“You were right, about everything.” He closed the small space between them to press a kiss against her lips, used his free hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear before resting it lightly on her neck. “I’ve followed in footsteps my whole life, my mother’s, my grandfather’s, but now you’ve saved me from all of that.” 

His eyes shone with amusement and he slid his hand up to cup her cheek. “You’re my savior after all, Reyna Fair.” 

Rey thought about all the years she’d spent in her tree. Trapped there, by her own need to be wanted by someone who would never want her back. 

“I think you saved me too,” she whispered. “I just,” she hesitated a moment, lifted her shoulders in a little shrug, “All my life I thought what I needed to be happy was to be wanted by Poe. But that night, in solarium, you saved me. I just didn’t know it yet.” 

“Rey,” she watched as a nervous look passed over Ben’s face before it quickly changed to a fierce determination. There he was once again, CEO Benjamin Organa Solo with just a hint of steel in his eyes, steadfast and confident with his need to get whatever it was he wanted to say just right. 

“Je regarde ce que je veux.”

Rey felt her breath catch. Felt her chest swell and heart heal. 

She thought about that first night in the solarium with him. The way he’d held her just a little too tight even then, and about how right it felt when his lips touched hers. She thought about how when they’d danced she’d let herself believe for a moment that maybe she wasn’t alone after all. 

Rey brought her hand up and placed it on the side of his face, thumb brushing over his lower lip and she held onto him the same way he held her. 

She knew it was another promise of his. That this wasn’t a merger or a business deal. It was just them, Rey and Ben, and he would never leave her alone again. 

She kissed him. A soft, slow kiss and when she answered him, it was her own promise to him. That it was just them, Ben and Rey, and that he never had to worry that she was thinking of someone else. 

“I’m looking at what I want too.” 

***

_ Once upon a time, on the North Shore of Long Island, there was a very large mansion, almost a castle. And on this very large estate there lived a small girl and life was pleasant there and very very simple.  _

_ But then one day the girl grew up and went beyond the walls of the grounds and found the world.  _

_ Fin _

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😭😭😭😭
> 
> My emotions. Thank you all for reading. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter:  
> Lane_Reads_Reylo  
> @LaneReads

**Author's Note:**

> Imma go hyperventilate now. 
> 
> You can find me on Twitter!  
> Lane_Reads_Reylo  
> @LaneReads


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